7 Presences: Music and Art
“For a number years I studied archetypal feminine images of the divine and grew fascinated with how the Virgin Mary has functioned as a Divine Mother for millions of people across the centuries. It was during this period that I inadvertently stumbled upon an array of mysterious black-skinned Madonnas. They captivated me immediately, and I began to explore their history, mythology, and spiritual significance. . . I traveled to Europe to see some of the Black Madonnas and found them to be images of startling strength and authority. Their stories reveal rebellious, even defiant sides. Black Madonnas in Poland and Central America have been the rallying images for oppressed peoples struggling against persecution.”
~ Interview with Sue Monk Kidd, author, The Secret Life of Bees (2002)
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur: Remembering Sister Dorothy Stang
Somaly Mam Foundation, The Road to Traffik
The Road of Lost Innocence: The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine, by Somaly Mam
“Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired”: A Retrospective on Fannie Lou Hammer created by two seventh grade students in Bakersfield, California.
Fannie Lou Hamer, 35 X 44 in., fabric and pigment on raw canvas, by Jude Spacks
Bill Withers, “Grandma’s Hands”
Joni Mitchell, “Woodstock”
Additional Resources for Chapter 7
“A Girl with a Book.” Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan, shot by the Taliban for . advocating girl’s education. Go here for my blog post and linked article on her 16th birthday, when she addressed a Youth Assembly at the United Nations.
Sophia: The Hidden Christ of Thomas Merton, by Hope Sings author Christopher Pramuk. A close theological study of Thomas Merton’s awakening to the feminine divine. Author interview about the book here.
Theologians Elizabeth Johnson, M. Shawn Copeland, and others discuss feminine images of God at this Fordham University panel, May 2, 2011.
Poet Maya Angelou, in a remarkable interview with Diane Rehm, recounting her life story, and her unlettered grandmother as “Wisdom” personified
From Sing a Battle Song: Poems by Women in the Weather Underground (1975). Graphic from Liberation News Service (LNS).
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