NASW Press
0 Items
Home    >    Spirituality and the Black Helping Tradition in Social Work
Spirituality and the Black Helping Tradition in Social Work
Elmer P. Martin and Joanne M. Martin
ISBN: 978-0-87101-322-4. 2003. Item #3223. 240 pages.

NASW Members
Save 10% (print edition): $11.69
You MUST enter member number to receive member discount at checkout.
In the black helping tradition, spirituality is the sense of the sacred and divine. It is a critical value deeply rooted in the African worldview and used by African Americans as a tool for survival. Provocative and well-written, Spirituality and the Black Helping Tradition in Social Work is the first book to draw a relationship between social work, spirituality, and the helping tradition among African Americans. Offering a wealth of historical detail and narrative, Elmer and Joanne Martin explore spirituality as a foundation for understanding people of African descent and as a skill to evoke self-help. This groundbreaking book raises compelling questions about the limitations and strengths of mainstream social work in issues of black spirituality and its role in strengthening the black community today.

Special Features


  • Examines the interaction between African and African American spirituality, African American social workers, and race work.

  • Chronicles the stories of early black caregivers and social workers who recognized the significance of spirituality and incorporated it into their work.

  • Investigates the extent to which social workers today are equipped to use spirituality to empower black individuals, families, and communities.

List of Figures and Tables
Dedication

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Spirituality and the Traditional African Helper

Chapter 3: Spirituality and the Enslaved Black Helper

Chapter 4: Religious Mythomania and the Fight for Freedom

Chapter 5: Spirituality and Race Work in the Free Black Community

Chapter 6: Alexander Crummell, W. E. B. DuBois, and the Transition of Race Work to Social Work

Chapter 7: Early Black Male Social Workers and the Integration of Spirituality and Science

Chapter 8: Early Black Female Social Workers, Spirituality, and Fictive Kinship

Chapter 9: Black Spirituality and Mainstream Social Work

Chapter 10: Spirituality and African-Centered and Black Experience-Based Social Work Approaches

Bibliography