In Black Madonna: A Womanist Look at Mary of Nazareth, Lee lays the groundwork for a womanist Mariology that speaks to the everyday lived experiences of black mothers in the United States. Written in a prose style that is easily accessible, Lee's work invites readers across the spectrum of Christian traditions to take on some of the most pressing concerns of our time, including the systemic racial and cultural biases that have contributed to the social, economic, and political disregard for black lives.
Lee's book is divided into three parts. The first part sketches the history of black motherhood and black womanhood, focusing in particular on the time of American slavery, Jim Crow–era domestic work, and the enduring stereotypes of black women as the Mammy, the Sapphire, and the Jezebel. Throughout this section, Lee highlights the ways in which the experiences of black women have been laden with suffering and oppression.
Part 2 offers an overview of Mariology within the European Christian tradition, beginning with the biblical Mary and concluding with contemporary feminist theological considerations of Mary. This section also includes a unique chapter on Maryam, which gives an account of Mary as an honored figure in Islam.
In part 3, Lee begins to fashion a womanist version of Mary as the Black Madonna. The section's first chapter, “Stabat Mater Dolorosa: Black Mothers, Slain Children,” is among the most provocative. Here, Lee compares and contrasts the experience of Mary mourning her son Jesus’ death on the cross with the sorrow and anguish of black mothers, such as Mamie Till, Sybrina Fulton, and Samira Rice, who lost their children to state-sanctioned, racially motivated police violence.
Over the course of the next several chapters, Lee develops the complex relationship between black women and Mary by juxtaposing Mary's perpetual virginity with the continual sexual exploitation of black women throughout history. She also gives a brief liberationist interpretation of the Magnificat, noting its potential to serve as a freedom song for black women that declares their blessedness and asserts God's preferential option for their marginalized status.
In the final chapter, Lee employs womanist theologian M. Shawn Copeland's fourfold framework of remembering, retelling, resisting, and redeeming to construct a manifesto of a womanist Mariology. Lee describes this prototype of Mary for black mothers by honoring her with and briefly explaining the following titles: Black and Beautiful, Mother of the Movement, Maker of Something with Nothing, and Perpetually Her Own. To conclude her work, Lee draws on Alice Walker's definition of womanist stating, “Powder blue is to the Virgin Mary as sapphire is to the Black Madonna” (125).
Lee's is one of the first creative and scholarly expositions of a womanist Mariology. It provides a useful and valuable starting point for undergraduate or graduate theology courses. Given the introductory nature of the book, however, I would recommend it as a supplementary text to other basic or more comprehensive readings for those who wish to explore the topics of womanist theology or Mariology more deeply.
