Making Space for Black Girlhood - A Womanist Pastoral Theology

This book grapples with the many layers of Black girlhood as a source for theological reflection. Doing so gives voice to Black girlhood experiences and disrupts Black girlhood erasure in religion and society. This book also demonstrates how lived experiences of Black girls inform theologies of care, which is important for divinity/seminary faculty and students as well as clergy. Since inception, womanist theology interrogates the social construction of being Black and female and centers these interlocking experiences as a primary source in theological reflection. However, noticeably absent from womanist theology are the actual voices of Black girls. The problems with this exclusion are epistemological and developmental. Epistemologically, Black girls’ voices are rarely sought out as a source of knowledge, and developmentally, Black girls appear to be born women.