Religion and socio-political activism among African-American women: An empirical investigation

Using a multi-disciplinary synthesis of historical and empirical research techniques, this dissertation examines the influence that religion has on the socio-political activism of African American women. Part I is a critical review of both classical and contemporary studies on religiosity and its traditional role in the historical struggle by Black women activists for gender equality, racial justice and social change.;Part II evaluates the chief analytical models currently used to define, categorize and interpret the activist tradition of Black women, and identifies conceptual weaknesses in the research methodologies employed. A reconfigured paradigm is then presented that draws on social movement theory, the historical and religious heritage of the African American community and the gender-centered experiences of Black women activists. The remainder of Part II provides several examples of the paradigm's application.;Part III describes the methodology and reports the key empirical findings from a specially designed "Black Women's Religious and Sociopolitical Activities Survey" that was administered in 2001 to African American women residing in the Philadelphia (PA) area. Controlling for age, education and income, chi-square analyses were conducted to assess how selected dimensions of religiosity---church attendance, participation in church affairs, devotional activities and religious orientation---effected respondents' participation in political and communal activities.;Analysis of variance and t-test analyses were used to determine if the respondents' political participation had been effected by (1) their membership in a predominantly Black (or White) denomination, or by (2) the political activeness of their own church. The "spillover effect theory"---which claims that Black women acquire certain church-based skills that they subsequently transfer to the political arena---was also tested.;The results showed that church attendance and participation in church activities had a positive and significant effect on political and communal participation for certain control sub-groups. Church activity participation was a strong predictor of communal participation. Devotion and religious orientation were significantly related to only a few control sub-groups, and the Somers' d value for each of those associations was not significant. The ANOVA and t-tests indicated that politicized churches and church acquired skills increased political participation; denominational affiliation had no effect.