Exorcizing evil : a womanist perspective on the spirituals / Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kirk-Duggan, Cheryl A., author.

Contributor:

Orbis Books, publisher.

Joanna Banks Collection of African American Books (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Bishop Henry McNeal Turner/Sojourner Truth series in Black religion ; v. 14.

The Bishop Henry McNeal Turner/Sojourner Truth series in Black religion ; v. 14

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Spirituals (Songs)--History and criticism.

Spirituals (Songs).

African Americans--Music--History and criticism.

African Americans.

African Americans--Music.

Womanist theology.

African Americans--Religion.

Penn Provenance:

Banks, Joanna (donor) (Banks Collection copy)

Physical Description:

xx, 403 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Maryknoll, N.Y. : Orbis Books, 1997.

Summary:

The Spirituals, born in the early history of the United States, still anchor the soul and awaken the history of much of the African-American community. In Exorcizing Evil, Cheryl Kirk-Duggan tells us of the birthing of the Spirituals by African-American slaves who drew upon their African traditions, their creativity, and spirituality to affirm God, and to cope with oppression amid the evils of slavery and racism. Kirk-Duggan explores the historical context of the Spirituals during the Civil Rights era, and shows us that by embodying the language of power and survival, the Spirituals empowered both slaves and oppressed Blacks to celebrate their life-force and power, and to look to God for support in their suffering.

As a womanist theologian, Kirk-Duggan analyzes the language of the Spirituals, lyrics that "name, unmask, and engage the powers." She takes us to performances of the Spirituals by powerful ensembles during the Civil Rights era, and to performances by song leaders and individual singers. We meet the women who lived and sang and worked with the Spirituals. In them, stories and music combine to form a theology of justice and a theodicy in which God affirms the identity of Black people and God's love for them.

Contents:

Part I: Insight: introduction and background

Meaning and knowing

Context: the social and historical setting

Theodicy in white and black

Part II: Innovation: inside the spirituals

Story: R-e-v-o-l-u-t-i-o-n

Creative spirit

Faith and thought

Part III: Intent: womanist design

Womanist thought

Womanist musings

Part IV: Illustriousness: the wellsprings of our texts

Mass meeting

Ensembles

Song leaders

Part V: Inference: our living texts

Womanist, transforming musings.

Notes:

"Copyright ©1997 by Cheryl Kirk-Duggan"--verso of title page.

Discography: pages 402-403.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 381-402).

Local Notes:

Kislak Center Banks Collection copy presented to the Penn Libraries in 2018 by Joanna Banks.

ISBN:

1570751463

OCLC:

37331497