In this subtle and illuminating study, Kimberly Rae Connor surveys examples of contemporary literature, drama, art, and music that extend the literary tradition of African-American slave narratives. Revealing the powerful creative links between this tradition and liberation theology's search for grace, she shows how these artworks profess a liberating theology of racial empathy and reconciliation, even if not in traditionally Christian or sacred language. From Frederick Douglass's autobiographical writings through Richard Wright's imaginative reconstruction of slavery to Ernest Gaines's...

Conversions and Visions in the Writings of African-American Women is a cultural study of the ways in which religion and literature have collaborated to promote self-affirmation among African-American women. From nineteenth-century autobiography to twentieth-century fiction, Kimberly Rae Connor explores the ancestral influence of religion and literature on African-American women's creative development and writings, offering new insights into the authors, their works, and their effect on society. Drawing upon literary theory, women's studies, and religious studies, Connor expands the categories...