Jarena Lee
Who was Jarena Lee?
American preacher
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Jarena Lee (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Jarena Lee was born on February 11, 1783, in Cape May, New Jersey, into a free Black family. She spent much of her early childhood away from her parents, working as a domestic servant starting at age seven. This early period of loneliness and hardship led to a deep spiritual longing that stayed with her throughout her adult life. When she was around twenty-one, Lee had a religious awakening after hearing a sermon by Richard Allen, the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She became a devoted member of his congregation in Philadelphia.
After her conversion, Lee continued to struggle with her spiritual calling and had an experience she described as entire sanctification, a belief from the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition that suggested believers could reach a state of perfect love and be free from sin. This deepened her belief that she was meant to preach. In 1809, she asked Richard Allen for permission to preach in the AME Church. Allen said no, citing church policy that barred women from formal preaching roles. Lee married Joseph Lee, a minister, in 1811 and moved to Snow Hill, New Jersey. There, she faced many personal struggles, including the deaths of her husband and several of their children.
After her husband's death, Lee returned to Philadelphia and continued to attend AME services. In 1819, during a Sunday service at Bethel Church, the scheduled speaker faltered, and Lee spontaneously delivered a sermon. Richard Allen, who was present, was deeply moved by her speech and publicly supported her preaching ministry. This moment was a turning point in her life and the history of the AME Church. From then on, Lee traveled widely across the northeastern United States and Canada as a traveling preacher, delivering hundreds of sermons each year and covering thousands of miles on foot and by any available transport.
Lee's preaching was marked by an urgent evangelical style and a focus on spiritual change. She spoke at camp meetings, in private homes, and from church pulpits, often addressing racially mixed audiences at a time when such gatherings were uncommon and sometimes controversial. She was known for her powerful speaking and her ability to connect with diverse audiences. Despite not holding any formal clerical title within the AME Church, she effectively served as a traveling minister for decades.
In 1836, Lee published her autobiography, The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee, making her the first African American woman to publish an autobiography. She later revised and expanded it in 1849 under the title Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee. These works offer not only a personal story but also an important historical account of Black religious life, traveling preaching culture, and the challenges women faced in seeking roles within organized Christianity during the antebellum period. Jarena Lee died on February 3, 1864, just days before her eighty-first birthday.
Before Fame
Jarena Lee was born free in Cape May, New Jersey, in 1783, when most Black Americans were enslaved and even free Black people faced strict legal and social limits. At seven, she was sent to work as a domestic servant for a family about sixty miles from her home, separating her from her parents during her formative years. This early separation left her feeling lonely and spiritually searching, feelings that stayed with her into adulthood.
Her journey to religious prominence began with her conversion experience in Philadelphia around 1804, where she heard the preaching of Richard Allen and the early AME community. The following years were marked by personal struggles, including severe depression and suicidal thoughts she linked to spiritual crisis, along with her marriage, widowhood, and the loss of children. These experiences of suffering and perseverance were central to the authority she later had in the pulpit, giving her preaching an emotional authenticity that connected with audiences throughout her ministry.
Key Achievements
- Became the first woman authorized to preach in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
- Published the first autobiography by an African American woman in 1836.
- Conducted an extensive itinerant preaching ministry spanning the northeastern United States and Canada over several decades.
- Preached the doctrine of entire sanctification as a leading voice in the Wesleyan-Holiness movement within the AME tradition.
- Expanded and republished her autobiography in 1849, creating a detailed record of Black religious and itinerant life in the antebellum era.
Did You Know?
- 01.Lee traveled an estimated 2,325 miles and preached approximately 178 sermons in the single year of 1827 alone.
- 02.She was sent away from her family at age seven to work as a domestic servant, and grew up largely apart from her parents.
- 03.Lee experienced what she described as a suicidal crisis before her religious conversion, which she later recounted in detail in her published autobiography.
- 04.Her 1836 autobiography predates Frederick Douglass's famous narrative by nine years, making it one of the earliest autobiographies published by an African American.
- 05.Richard Allen initially refused her request to preach in 1809, but reversed his position ten years later after witnessing her spontaneously deliver a compelling sermon during a Sunday service.