Religious beliefs can be central to children's healthy development. In the following narrative fragment, Mrs. Edith Hudley, a 73-year-old African-American, recounted to me her experiences as a 7-year-old child walking to a segregated school.

Mrs. Hudley went on to explain that when we hate, we destroy that part of God which he left inside each of us when he created us. Thus, from Mrs. Hudley's perspective, she was not the victim of this story; rather, her taunters were (Haight, 1998).

As a scientifically educated developmental psychologist, my interest in African-American children's religious experiences emerged only gradually through repeated exposure to stories such as this one. As Mrs. Hudley spontaneously recounted her own experiences, I often wondered how children of any ethnicity could develop optimally within racist communities. As I listened more closely, it became clear that, for Mrs. Hudley, human development is rooted in spirituality, a perspective in which everyday human events are contextualized by strongly held and deeply felt personal beliefs about the meaning of life including an ultimate love, which all may receive, and an ultimate justice, to which all are accountable.