Jarena Lee & Me: How A Woman’s Journey from 250 years ago Motivated Me to Cherish My Own…
Yesterday, February 11th was the birthday of Jarena Lee. She died just a month shy of her 81st birthday. I’ve always known her story but yesterday I was covering an event for one of my clients that centered the personal and professional life of Jarena Lee. The conversation was held by two experts on the matter: Dr. Teresa Fry Brown & Dr. Valerie Bridgeman. They walked the webinar participants through the memoirs of Jarena Lee and the choices she made in her own life over 250 years ago.
Jarena Lee (1783–1864) is a contemporary of Sojourner Truth (1797–1883), and Harriet Tubman (1822–1913). Among these women I find a similar resilience and determination. They each did what they were purposed to do without permission from those that sought to silence and oppress them.
Historian and theologian Dr. Fry Brown informed us yesterday, that though Jarena Lee was the first black woman authorized to preach by Bishop Richard Allen in 1819, it took nearly 200 years for that same denomination to ordain her, posthomously.
Yet, Jarena Lee did her work. She did what she was purposed for. She named her own conditions and she did what she was called to do. Still, as event curator and host Dr. Bridgeman reminded us: Jarena Lee died penniless, cleaning other people’s homes in her late 70s until her death. She died with a great deal of anonymity. Only recently has her story been recovered.
And while it pains me that she died in poverty, it blesses my soul that she didn’t die without telling her story. Her story lives on because she took the time to write it. Lee didn’t just let life happen to her. She moved through life how she needed to and she chronicled it.
She refused to let those who didn’t value her, be the ones with the opportunity to tell her story.
And as I sat in the webinar, tears began to roll down my face. How many of us are afraid to tell our stories? How many of us, 250 years later, have far more privilege & access to ways of claiming agency in our lives but we simply let life happen to us without putting up a fight? I couldn’t help but think about Malcolm X and his passion to write his own biography once he realized those he thought were his allies were actually his foes. So many of our ancestors did far more with far less. They found ways to say: I WAS HERE.
As I sat in that webinar yesterday, I realized that we give up our power so easily. We let our oppressors narrate our stories. We give too much control to those who won’t even see to it that we aren’t penniless at the times of our death. Dr. Teresa Fry Brown put it like this yesterday:
“Write some things down so people know you were here when you’re gone. Put something away for you, because people will use you up when they need you and when they can’t use you any longer to build themselves up, they’ll be done with you. If you don’t have anything for yourself, you’ll be poor.” (PARAPHRASE from yesterday’s webinar)
With the help of our ancestors before us, and the sages who are still presently with us, we all have the capacity to LIVE ON PURPOSE. You don’t have to be an author to state that you were here. You don’t have to be a preacher to carry out God’s purpose for your life. But you do have to be intentional. You do have to be unapologetic. You do have to take back control of your life. You do have to give nos where they are required and yes’ where they are required. You do have to FIGHT for your right to the life that you deserve. That’s what Jarena Lee, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X and so many others can show us. Live life on purpose. Go for broke for what is yours.
And if there’s one last thing that resonated that I’ve got to name, it’s this: put something aside for yourself. Dr. Fry Brown told us yesterday: sacrifice some things but don’t sacrifice it all. You’ve got to save something for you. This Black History Month, put aside some joy for yourself. Put aside some laughter for yourself. Put aside some fulfillment for yourself. Put aside some coins for yourself. Don’t give it all away. And as that saying goes “we’ve got to learn to love the sound of our feet walking away from things not meant for us.” Stay on your journey y’all. Stand firm in who you are. Make Jarena Lee proud. And if you’ve got it in you — write it down.
