Converting Racism

Abstract

Abstract African American Charlotte Wright’s book Beneath the Southern Cross: The Story of an American Bishop’s Wife in South Africa (1955) is a unique text. This article uses a womanist theological framework, situated within studies of African American women and religion, to acknowledge that the experiences and writing of Wright must be considered in terms of race, gender, class, and theological influences. By considering these four factors in conjunction it is argued that despite the conservative nature of Wright’s text she subtly, but radically, challenged the erotic gaze and derogatory racial stereotypes of African American inferiority.