Jarena Lee returns to Cape May to preach

A return made possible by family

Lee’s narrative describes returning after about fourteen years away and becoming severely seasick en route. Near her destination she arranged an evening meeting. Her mother then cared for her unwell son while she continued preaching, and an uncle made his house available for meetings. The journey depended on several people’s work, not only the preacher’s resolve. Lee’s 1849 narrative, excerpt transcribed by PBS.

A hostile listener and an explicit uncertainty

At her uncle’s house, Lee recalled a white slaveholder who denied that Black people had souls. She described his changed response after hearing her and his later attendance at another meeting. But she also wrote that she never learned whether he became a convert. Her own qualification should survive retellings that might otherwise turn the episode into a complete redemption story. Lee’s 1849 narrative, excerpt transcribed by PBS.

Following the invitations

The excerpt moves through a courthouse, schoolhouses and private homes, recording miles walked between engagements. These are Lee’s retrospective reports of activity; the excerpt alone does not identify each surviving building. Lee’s 1849 narrative, excerpt transcribed by PBS.

The Park Service places her birth in Cape May in 1783 and dates her earlier autobiography to 1836. Its account follows her much wider travel, including Pennsylvania’s transport system. The local return is one part of an extensive ministry preserved through her published writing. National Park Service biography.