“There Is a Work for Each One of Us”: The Socio-Theology of the Rev. Florence Spearing Randolph

Abstract

African American women are significant forces in the religious and political histories of their communities—in all of African America.¹ Until recently phrases such as “the backbone of the church” and “the power behind the throne” have been the most generous assessments of black women’s roles in their churches. Such assessments did not attribute agency to their roles in the churches. Their religious leadership has been evaluated largely in terms of the influence they have exerted from their missionary societies and auxiliary conventions. In contrast to influence, other forms of power and authority are not attributed to women’s leadership in the church. Women are not immediately linked to the direct creation and proclamation of religious ideas. As a result, the power of women in institutions and organizations has been more difficult to imagine and explore.