Let Him Use You: Southern Womanism, Utterance, and Saint Katharine Drexel's Educational Philosophy

Abstract

As a theoretical perspective and methodological tool, Southern Womanism continues the life-long work of Father Cyprian Davis by acknowledging the African roots of Catholicism and the existence of a Afro-Catholic diaspora. This scholarship invites readers into the Afro-Catholic Diaspora where the histories and experiences of Black Catholics are not isolated incidents, whimsical memories, or anecdotal musings. Instead, they are  testimonies to the presence of  socio-religious agency in the Black Catholic Community. In the Afro-Catholic Diaspora, Mother Katharine is neither hero nor villain; she is a beloved witness of the movement for self-determined Black Catholic education. And, as a witness to this self-determination, Mother Katharine experienced a shift from being a missionary to unchurched black souls to becoming an accomplice to the holistic survival of Black people -- mind, body, spirit.