Hidden Histories: An Approach to Sexuality in Womanist Religious Thought
book review
Shatavia L. Wynn
extract
Monique Moultrie’s Hidden Histories: Faith and Black Lesbian Leadership examines the lives of Black lesbian faith practitioners and leaders. Through ethnographic work, Moultrie catalogs the experiences of a variety of Black lesbians within a multitude of faith traditions. The project centers on these three critical questions: “How are Black Lesbian religious leaders incubators for social justice activism? How does spirituality animate their social activism? And how can these leaders function as models for ethical leadership for future generations?” (2). Using the voices of Black lesbian faith leaders, Moultrie answers these questions and provides a rich resource for scholars, students, and practitioners. Moultrie’s work brilliantly weaves together Black feminist and womanist theory with the lived experiences of her interviewees. The book provides the reader with the necessary scholarly and theoretical context as Moultrie astutely shows that Black lesbian women have always and will always be a part of faith communities as...