Black Women Spirituality

Religion and spirituality can be important aspects of a black woman's life, as is illustrated in the female characters in Alice Walker's The Color Purple. Religion and more so spirituality can exist for these women outside of the formal church structure, as well as within it. It is however this informal spirituality outside of the so-called Black Church that shows itself as being the most influential for the female characters in Walker's book. For the characters in The Color Purple their spirituality evolves from the Black Church teachings that focus on the Bible and portrays God as a white male figure to God being an abstract thing with no gender and being present in everything it makes. It is this spirituality that gave the black women the hope, healing, and will to continue living.

For the main character in The Color Purple, Celie, formal Black Church religious experience is limited. Although attending the Black Church was something she did it is not something she focuses much on in her letters to God, which demonstrates that it was not a key aspect in her continuing spirituality. Celie seems to have at least been introduced to the Black Church and God, as she respects the Reverend and demonstrates some familiarity with it. For example, she seems to take pride in the fact that her daughter is being raised by the Reverend and also gives his wife "horsepitality" when she meets her in town one day. (1) In one of Celie's letters to God she writes "the women at church sometime nice to me. Sometime not. They look at me there struggling with Mr. ___ children. Trying to drag 'em to church, trying to keep 'em quiet after us get there." (2) This shows that Celie apparently did go to church and somewhat regularly at least when she was raising her husbands kids, but it seems to have played a minor role in her spirituality because it is very rarely mentioned.