Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee, Giving an Account of Her Call to Preach the Gospel

Jarena Lee's religious autobiography is among the most moving and profound of its kind, telling the story of one woman's journey to faith in a society hostile to her gender and race. Published in 1836, this memoir attracted much attention for its eloquence, whereby Jarena Lee relays in clear and articulate terms her discovery of God and conversion to Christianity. Filled with emotional gravitas and passages attesting her devotion to the divine, the journal is one of the most inspiring religious biographies of its period. After her early upbringing Jarena worked as a servant maid, where she struggled with depression and self-esteem. Often feeling damned and wretched, she contemplated and fantasized about suicide several times. It was only when she began to study the Bible and the Christian doctrines in detail that she found her calling in life and set about following it. Feeling galvanized and joyous at having gained a sense of purpose on the Earth, Jarena set about delivering sermons and preaching. After founding the African Methodist Episcopal Church, she would traverse tremendous distances on foot, sometimes covering more than a thousand miles in a single year to deliver over one hundred lectures. This pilgrim's tirelessness, and her status as both a woman and a black person, distinguished Jarena Lee and brought her a measure of fame. At the time Jarena experienced her career as a preacher, slavery was legal in the United States. Racism was accepted and, in parts of the nation, condoned as the correct attitude to hold towards black people. As such, Jarena struggled against abuse concerning both her gender and race. In spite of these attempts to undermine her character and devotion to God, Jerena went on to live a lengthy life of over eighty years total.