Last updated: January 26, 2026
Person
Jarena Lee
Quick Facts
Place of Birth:
Cape May, New Jersey
Date of Birth:
February 11, 1783
Place of Death:
New Jersey
Date of Death:
February 3, 1864
Place of Burial:
Mount Pisgah AME Church Cemetery
Cemetery Name:
Lawnside, New Jersey
Jarena Lee was a woman of many firsts.
Lee began preaching in 1820 and was the first female preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, an honor granted to her by the founder of the AME, Richard Allen. She was also the first African American woman to have her autobiography published in the United States and was a member of the American Antislavery Society. Her book "The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee" was published in 1836. It was updated several years later and titled "Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee."
She travelled extensively throughout the Northern United States and Canada. According to her calculations, in one year, she “…travelled two thousand three hundred and twenty-five miles and preached one hundred and seventy-eight sermons.” She repeatedly used the Main Line of Public Works and the Allegheny Portage Railroad on her travels across the country.
She mentions the Allegheny Portage Railroad in her autobiography:
“I next proceeded to Hollidaysburg. . . I was kindly received by a gentleman belonging to Wesley church, and entertained in a friendly manner. Preached two sermons to a comfortable congregation, and then left for Johnstown. After I got out of the car I thought it almost the last end of the world as regards accommodations.”