Queens and Their Crowns
by Jennifer M. Phillips

One of my enduring memories of serving a multiethnic St. Louis parish is of the majestic African-American women sitting in the pews in their equally majestic church hats. I learned quickly that just as a lot of the white members wore casual clothes to church out of a belief that they wanted to put "their real selves" in front of God, free of any pretense, the black members honored God by dressing themselves and their children as elegantly as possible. Black families that hardly had two cents to rub together wouldn't dream of coming to church without shined shoes, petticoats and ruffles for the little girls, neat jackets for small boys, and for the women -- elegant hats.

Crowns is a stunning documentary work in black and white portrait photographs and first-person brief reflections of about three dozen women from a variety of denominations, careers, and generations. Each of them is pictured by Cunningham in a favorite hat and the hat becomes a springboard for stories, memories, and self-disclosures shared in their interviews with Marberry. Each of the authors contributes a short essay, but one of the splendid things about this work is the way that both the interviewer and the photographer succeed at not diverting any attention to themselves while assisting the reader to focus the full gaze on the women's inner and outer beauty.

If the admonition from 1 Corinthians 11:5 that women should cover their heads when praying or prophesying so as not to dishonor themselves was the original justification for church hats, in the lives of these women, hats come to mean much, much more.

The faces (and the hats) are so lovely, so full of character and uniqueness, that I find myself turning the pages again and again to revisit them. Some women wear their hats as a sign of respect for God or authority, some to keep out the sun or cold, some to be ladylike, some to flirt or strut.

The faces (and the hats) are so lovely, so full of character and uniqueness, that I find myself turning the pages again and again to revisit them. Some women wear their hats as a sign of respect for God or authority, some to keep out the sun or cold, some to be ladylike, some to flirt or strut. Some have a few hats, and a few of these women have hundreds! Hats bear the memories of fathers and mothers from whom they were inherited, ancestors who wore head-wraps and headdresses like them, friends or lovers who gave them, or special occasions for which they were bought.

The spirit of the storytelling is celebratory, whether a woman is remembering her first hat as a girl in a family that picked cotton, or the hat her mother sewed to match a dress for church when she was a tiny girl, or the hat she spent hours choosing or decorating to wear to a Church of God in Christ convention -- which is the hat parade for black church women of that denomination. 

Maya Angelou, in her foreword writes: "Sundays are a precious gift to hardworking womenÉ She dresses in the finest clothes she owns, layers her face with Fashion Fair cosmetics and sprays herself with a wonderful perfume, and then she puts on THE HAT, and it is The Hat."

It is a tribute to mothers, aunties, sisters, and church women, that two young African-American men felt so moved to pay tribute to the queenly women in their communities, and did so with obvious tenderness and respect in this book, which lifts the heart like a song, and opens a window into the piety and pride of black churchwomen and the heritage they embody.

The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Phillips is vicar of St. Augustine's Episcopal Church in Kingston, Rhode Island, and an Associate of The Society of St. John the Evangelist. Her numerous articles (on urban ministry, poverty, liturgy, AIDS/HIV, sexuality, and theology) have appeared in Anglican Theological Review, The Sewanee Theological Review, The Witness, Episcopal Life, Anglican Digest, The Journal of Thanatology, Open, and her poetry has appeared in numerous journals. Jennifer may be reached by email at revjphillips@earthlink.net