Lee, Jarena, 1783- (Personal Name)

Sisters of the spirit, c1986: CIP p. ix (Jarena Lee) p. 12 (b. 2-11-1783)

African American National Biography, accessed February 23, 2015, via Oxford African American Studies Center database: (Lee, Jarena; Christian clergyperson/ lay leader, evangelist, African Methodist Episcopal lay leader; born 11 February 1783 in Cape May, New Jersey, United States; found in the Bethel African Methodist congregation of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1809); began preaching; requested for a license to preach under the authority of the newly formed African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church (1817); traveled alone and with other women to large and small evangelical meetings throughout the Northeast; was ostracized from an increasing number of AME churches in Philadelphia; published an autobiographical narrative, “The Life and Religious Experiences of Jarena Lee” (1836); produced an expanded version under the title “Religious Experiences and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee: Giving an Account of Her Call to Preach the Gospel” (1849); worked for a time with the New York Anti-Slavery Society; was the first known black woman to forcefully advocate for the right of women to preach in Methodist denominations; date and place of death unknown)