The Black Girl in Search of God

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The Black Girl in Search of God (and Some Lesser Tales) is a book of short stories written by George Bernard Shaw. The title story is a parable concerning the attempts of a black African girl to find and literally speak to God after being brainwashed by misguided missionaries. She meets a variety of people whilst searching for him within the jungle, many of whom represent aspects of religious faith and values from Bernard Shaw's time period. Eventually she settles down with an Irish man and has a family with him, considering her initial quest to be foolish.

The main protagonist, the 'black girl', has been hailed by critics as a feminist figure, able as she is to defend herself with her knobkerrie and able as she is to ask what are effectively searching theological questions, albeit from a naive standpoint (such as wanting to know if God is white or black). At times Bernard Shaw parodies the racist attitudes of white colonialists; the title may be taken as ironic.

The book opens with an essay by Bernard Shaw questioning the power of the Bible in which he makes the case that it is merely a book without any mystical value, though he makes the case that it does have strong ethical messages and is valuable in other ways. Because of this the book caused an uproar on publication circa 1932. It was originally published as Short Stories, Scraps and Shavings.