Serving, Helping, Affirming the Divinity in Every Sista'

S.H.A.D.E.S. is a student organization at Vanderbilt Divinity School open to those who desire to take seriously the struggles, challenges, and triumphs of Black women in theory and praxis. Influenced by the very last line in Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, “ I found God in myself and I loved her…I loved her fiercely,” S.H.A.D.E.S. stands for Serving, Helping, Affirming the Divinity in Every Sista’. Black women have remarkable virtue; likewise, the term S.H.A.D.E.S affirms our united strength and celebrates our unique and varied complexions, personalities, identities, and experiences.