1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy B. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. I don't 4 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:20,120 Speaker 1: think we've talked very much on the show about the Shakers. 5 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,119 Speaker 1: They're more formally called the United Society of Believers in 6 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: Christ's Second Appearance, and there were as many as six 7 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 1: thousand Shakers in the middle of the nineteenth century, but 8 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: their numbers started declining after that point. Today there is 9 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: only one active Shaker community remaining. It's in Maine, and 10 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: over the last few years that has had between two 11 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 1: and three members. Today's subject was a Shaker, but was 12 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:50,720 Speaker 1: also something of an outlier among the Shakers. Shakers were 13 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 1: known for their rural, utopian communities, but Mother Rebecca Cox 14 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: Jackson established a community in the city of Philadelphia. This 15 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: was the only known urban Shaker community. Nineteenth century Shaker 16 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: teachings also included racial equality, and Shaker communities were open 17 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,479 Speaker 1: to believers regardless of their race. But at the same time, 18 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:14,119 Speaker 1: most of these communities were very predominantly white. Like if 19 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: you see photographs or illustrations, often there are one or 20 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 1: two people of color. At most Jackson, on the other hand, 21 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: was a black woman who focused a lot of her 22 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: religious work on the black community, and most believers in 23 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:30,840 Speaker 1: the community that she established were black women. So that's 24 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: who we're going to talk about today. And just a 25 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,680 Speaker 1: heads up, there is some violence in this episode, including 26 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:40,479 Speaker 1: a little bit of discussion of intimate partner violence. Mother 27 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:45,680 Speaker 1: Rebecca Cox Jackson's autobiography begins with a conversion experience that 28 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,559 Speaker 1: she had in July of eighteen thirty. She was thirty 29 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: five years old at the time. She makes scattered references 30 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:54,760 Speaker 1: to her life before that, but they're mostly in the 31 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:59,080 Speaker 1: context of dreams or visions connected to those earlier moments. 32 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: Her journals also end abruptly years before her death, and 33 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: her autobiography is almost exclusively focused on her spiritual and 34 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:11,080 Speaker 1: religious life, so there are gaps in what we know 35 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:13,600 Speaker 1: about her adult life, and we don't know much about 36 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: her life before the age of thirty five at all. 37 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: We do know that she was born on February sevente 38 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: in Horntown, Pennsylvania, and at the time this was a 39 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:28,400 Speaker 1: small village outside of Philadelphia, but as the city got bigger, 40 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: Horntown was pretty much absorbed into it. Rebecca's mother was 41 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 1: a free black woman named Jane, and we don't really 42 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:37,959 Speaker 1: know much about her father, except that his last name 43 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,240 Speaker 1: was Cox. He probably died not long after Rebecca was born. 44 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: She went to live with her grandmother until she was 45 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 1: a toddler, possibly because her mother just couldn't afford to 46 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: support the whole family by herself. At that point, Jane 47 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 1: had at least two other children, Joseph and John. Jane 48 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 1: remarried at least once to a man whose last name 49 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,799 Speaker 1: is Wilson or Whisson. He died in eighteen o one, 50 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 1: when Rebecca was about six. Rebecca had her first vision 51 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:12,280 Speaker 1: just before this one, in which she foresaw her stepfather's death. 52 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:16,200 Speaker 1: During her lifetime, she had visions that predicted the deaths 53 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: of other family members as well, including her young nephew John. 54 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,960 Speaker 1: After that vision, he converted and was baptized on his deathbed. 55 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:29,239 Speaker 1: Rebecca's grandmother died when she was seven, and then when 56 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: Rebecca was about ten, she became responsible for looking after 57 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: two younger half brothers and her adult writing, Rebecca described 58 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: herself as the only one of her mother's children who 59 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 1: quote had not learning. That's probably because she was the 60 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: only one who couldn't go to school because she had 61 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: all these other duties to her siblings. Rebecca's mother died 62 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: when Rebecca was thirteen, and she went to live with 63 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: her thirty one year old brother, Joseph Cox. He worked 64 00:03:57,240 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: at a tanning yard and was also a preacher and 65 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: an older at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. 66 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 1: He was probably a widower. Rebecca's writings never mentioned a wife. 67 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:12,480 Speaker 1: Rebecca started working as a seamstress while also keeping her 68 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: brother's house and looking after his six children, and at 69 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 1: some point she got married to a man named Samuel S. Jackson, 70 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: and her writings suggests that two of them after they 71 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: were married, lived together in her brother's house. As we 72 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 1: said just a moment ago. Joseph Cox was an elder 73 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church or a m e 74 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: now known as Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. 75 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: This is one of the oldest African Methodist Episcopal congregations 76 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: in the United States and one of the first black 77 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: churches of any denomination in the country. The church was 78 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:52,680 Speaker 1: at the heart of Philadelphia's free black community, with ties 79 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: to the abolitionist movement and to the underground railroad. The 80 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:00,159 Speaker 1: African Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in the face of 81 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:05,480 Speaker 1: racism and discrimination among other Methodist congregations, but the Methodist 82 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: Church had been at least somewhat more welcoming toward black 83 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: members than a lot of other denominations were, and they 84 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:16,279 Speaker 1: had actively ministered to black communities. This is something we 85 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:18,600 Speaker 1: talked a little bit about not long ago in our 86 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:22,640 Speaker 1: episodes on William APIs. So by the time Rebecca Cox 87 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 1: Jackson got to adulthood, there was already a tradition of 88 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:31,120 Speaker 1: black Methodist communities, including black clergy and lay ministers, and 89 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:35,359 Speaker 1: black lead prayer groups. While the clergy and other church 90 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: leadership were typically men, a lot of prayer groups were 91 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:44,119 Speaker 1: formed among women and focused specifically on women's spirituality. Although 92 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:48,560 Speaker 1: Rebecca Cox Jackson eventually became a Shaker, her early religious 93 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: experiences were largely within more mainstream churches like the African 94 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: Methodist Episcopal Church. As we said earlier, Jackson's autobiography starts 95 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:02,000 Speaker 1: with a religious experience in that she had in eighteen thirty, 96 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 1: when she was thirty five. She saw that as the 97 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: true beginning of her life. She had always been so 98 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:11,479 Speaker 1: afraid of thunderstorms that she would hide from them in 99 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: her bed. During a particularly bad storm, she started to 100 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 1: feel like the storm itself was announcing the end of 101 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:23,280 Speaker 1: her life. She prayed either for death or for redemption, 102 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 1: and suddenly everything shifted. Instead of being a messenger of death, 103 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:33,800 Speaker 1: the lightning became quote the messenger of joy, peace, and consolation. 104 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:38,320 Speaker 1: Her fear of thunderstorms immediately fell away, and she saw 105 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:42,679 Speaker 1: them instead as messages from God. About six months after 106 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:46,800 Speaker 1: this experience, Jackson made a public confession and was baptized 107 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 1: by Mary Peterson, who was the wife of a Presbyterian 108 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:53,720 Speaker 1: minister from Philadelphia. Peterson was part of a women's prayer 109 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:56,840 Speaker 1: circle or covenant circle that Jackson was involved with, and 110 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: Jackson eventually became its co leader. Jackson didn't offer much 111 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:05,480 Speaker 1: specific detail about her relationship with her husband, but she 112 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: does mention that he liked to gamble and that he 113 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 1: used obscene language. But after Rebecca's conversion, Samuel seems to 114 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:17,160 Speaker 1: have been pretty supportive of her religious pursuits, at least 115 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:21,040 Speaker 1: at first. Rebecca started a smaller prayer group with her 116 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: husband and a couple of other people so they could 117 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 1: talk about their experiences in a more private setting some 118 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:31,840 Speaker 1: of the prayer groups that formed within Methodist communities during 119 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: this time. We're focused on sanctification, so when a person 120 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: converted to Methodism, they felt that their sins had been 121 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: forgiven through divine love and grace. But then sanctification went 122 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:47,760 Speaker 1: beyond that to fully free a person from sin. Sometimes 123 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:51,080 Speaker 1: people of color who wrote about their own religious experiences 124 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: in the nineteenth century also framed sanctification as freeing them 125 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:59,920 Speaker 1: from any racism or oppression that they had internalized while 126 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,080 Speaker 1: living in a racist and oppressive society. So those factors 127 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 1: obviously still existed, but they didn't feel as emotionally and 128 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:12,000 Speaker 1: spiritually burdened or bound by them. Rebecca Cox Jackson had 129 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,880 Speaker 1: a sanctification experience in eight thirty one, and that experience, 130 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: in her words, quote, destroyed the lust of my flesh 131 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 1: and made me hate it. She came to believe that 132 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: her body was God's and God's alone, and that sex 133 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:31,160 Speaker 1: was sinful, even in the context of a marriage. She 134 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: talked to her husband about this newfound conviction, and her 135 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:39,359 Speaker 1: description of what happened during this conversation sounds almost otherworldly. 136 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:42,960 Speaker 1: He had gone into the cellar to get some firewood 137 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: and he'd left the door open, and there was also 138 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:47,880 Speaker 1: a pot of coffee boiling on the stove in the kitchen. 139 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 1: Jackson kept placing her hands on the stove and then 140 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 1: walking toward the open cellar door with her eyes closed, 141 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:57,280 Speaker 1: but the stove never burned her and she never fell 142 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:00,720 Speaker 1: down the stairs into the cellar. She upened her eyes 143 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:03,560 Speaker 1: after doing this several times, and Samuel was looking at 144 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:07,680 Speaker 1: her as though he was afraid of her. Rebecca explained 145 00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:11,720 Speaker 1: to Samuel that her newfound conviction wasn't about her personal 146 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:15,400 Speaker 1: desires or about her feelings about him. It was that 147 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:19,680 Speaker 1: her body no longer belonged to her. It belonged entirely 148 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:24,200 Speaker 1: to God. Jackson describes her husband as understanding this as 149 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:27,959 Speaker 1: a divine experience and attending prayer meetings with her for 150 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: several weeks with the hope of having some kind of 151 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:35,719 Speaker 1: revelation of his own, but eventually Samuel stopped being supportive. 152 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:40,160 Speaker 1: Years later, when the two of them separated, Jackson said 153 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:43,520 Speaker 1: that she had become afraid of him, including being afraid 154 00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:46,280 Speaker 1: for her life, and that she had only survived the 155 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:49,640 Speaker 1: last years of her marriage because her gift of foresight 156 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: had made it possible to avoid the worst of his violence. 157 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:57,040 Speaker 1: We'll talk about how Jackson's life changed after this sanctification 158 00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: experience after we take a quick sponsor break. Rebecca Cox. 159 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:14,120 Speaker 1: Jackson started having more religious visions after her sanctification, but 160 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:18,079 Speaker 1: at first she didn't always act on them. In one case, 161 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:20,480 Speaker 1: there was a woman she knew who was sick, and 162 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,640 Speaker 1: Jackson felt that she should pray for this woman, But 163 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:26,800 Speaker 1: then she thought, quote her husband as a Presbyterian, and 164 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 1: don't know you, and if he comes in and sees 165 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 1: an old black woman in his chamber praying for his wife, 166 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:35,680 Speaker 1: he will push you into the street. So she didn't. 167 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:38,960 Speaker 1: Was woman later died, and her family said that she 168 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:41,360 Speaker 1: had thought Jackson was coming to pray for her and 169 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:45,120 Speaker 1: did not understand why she had not. In another incident, 170 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 1: Jackson had a premonition that another woman was going to 171 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: die in about two weeks and that Jackson needed to 172 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:53,560 Speaker 1: tell her so that she could put her affairs in order, 173 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:57,920 Speaker 1: But Jackson was again afraid she thought that she might 174 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:01,960 Speaker 1: be branded as a false prophet. This woman also died, 175 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 1: and Jackson felt deeply remorseful. After all of this, Jackson 176 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:10,440 Speaker 1: committed herself to trusting her visions and to always obeying 177 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:13,560 Speaker 1: God's commands to her, and in her mind, this was 178 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:16,880 Speaker 1: a binding covenant. At around the time that all of 179 00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:21,240 Speaker 1: this was happening, Jackson also learned to read. Her brother, 180 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:24,240 Speaker 1: Joseph Cox, had agreed to teach her. They had agreed 181 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: that he would give her an hour or so of 182 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:29,440 Speaker 1: lessons after supper or before he went to bed, but 183 00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:32,400 Speaker 1: in her words quote, his time was taken up as 184 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:35,840 Speaker 1: well as mine. This became a big source of frustration. 185 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: But a bigger frustration was when Jackson realized that Cox 186 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:42,880 Speaker 1: was not just taking dictation when he wrote out letters 187 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:46,600 Speaker 1: for her. He was editing her words as she spoke. 188 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:50,280 Speaker 1: And she realized this she told him quote, I don't 189 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 1: want THEE to word my letter. I only want THEE 190 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:57,839 Speaker 1: to write it. Jackson was really hurt by her brother's actions, 191 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:01,240 Speaker 1: but then, in her words quote, these words were spoken 192 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:04,720 Speaker 1: in my heart, be faithful, and the time shall come 193 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:09,079 Speaker 1: when you can write. Later, when she was sewing, another 194 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,680 Speaker 1: message arrived in her mind, quote, who taught the first 195 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:18,000 Speaker 1: man on earth to read? Answer? God? Well, God is unchangeable, 196 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:20,400 Speaker 1: and if he taught the first man to read, he 197 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:24,719 Speaker 1: can you. After this, she opened a Bible and realized 198 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:27,679 Speaker 1: that she could read it. She told her husband that 199 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:30,240 Speaker 1: she could read, and he said she had probably just 200 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:33,880 Speaker 1: memorized those verses, so she turned to some verses that 201 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: she did not know she read them as well. After this, 202 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,880 Speaker 1: she read from the Bible every day and eventually realized 203 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:44,360 Speaker 1: that she could read whatever she wanted. She also learned 204 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:48,199 Speaker 1: to write, and afterwards she regularly kept a journal, something 205 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:51,360 Speaker 1: that she kept up for about three decades. She also 206 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:54,760 Speaker 1: felt called to write about religion and spirituality as it 207 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:57,560 Speaker 1: was told to her through things like visions and dreams 208 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:01,280 Speaker 1: and divine revelations, saying quote, I am only a pen 209 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: in his hand. Just as her sanctification experience had shifted 210 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:10,400 Speaker 1: her relationship with her husband, her experience with literacy really 211 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:13,640 Speaker 1: shifted a relationship with her brother. She had always really 212 00:13:13,679 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 1: looked up to Joseph, almost as a father figure. She 213 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:20,319 Speaker 1: had even idolized him, so his failure to teach her 214 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 1: to read was a huge disappointment. But then beyond that, 215 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:26,680 Speaker 1: she began to think that it had been wrong of 216 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:29,120 Speaker 1: her to idolize her brother in this way in the 217 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:33,199 Speaker 1: first place, and she realized that she could not simultaneously 218 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:36,400 Speaker 1: defer to her brother as a father figure and the 219 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:40,280 Speaker 1: head of their household, and also adhere to her conviction 220 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:45,040 Speaker 1: that she be unconditionally obedient to God. As Jackson became 221 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:47,480 Speaker 1: more able to study the Bible on her own, she 222 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:51,640 Speaker 1: also became more active in her covenant meetings. This caused 223 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:55,080 Speaker 1: controversy as men other than her own husband started to 224 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:59,680 Speaker 1: attend them. Although Jackson had been baptized, she wasn't formally 225 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:02,520 Speaker 1: a member of any specific church, and she had no 226 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:05,400 Speaker 1: plans to join a church at that point since God 227 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:08,720 Speaker 1: had not commanded her to do so. But her brother's 228 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:11,040 Speaker 1: role in the A. M. E. Church also meant that 229 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:15,000 Speaker 1: her activities reflected on him, and people started putting pressure 230 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:18,160 Speaker 1: on him to try to make her stop. She was 231 00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:22,200 Speaker 1: accused of dividing up church congregations and of quote a 232 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:27,320 Speaker 1: leading the men. Ministers and leaders from various denominations started 233 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:31,640 Speaker 1: investigating what she was doing. Although many of them denounced her, 234 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:35,320 Speaker 1: some actually wound up on her side. For example, Bishop 235 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 1: Morris Brown of the African Methodist Episcopal Church attended one 236 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,240 Speaker 1: of her meetings. His intent was that he was going 237 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:44,680 Speaker 1: to make her stop preaching, but then afterward he said, 238 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:47,480 Speaker 1: quote if ever the Holy Ghost was in any place. 239 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:51,360 Speaker 1: It was in that meeting let her alone now. Jackson 240 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:55,880 Speaker 1: also found that ascetic practices like fasting and seclusion heightened 241 00:14:55,880 --> 00:15:00,200 Speaker 1: her spiritual gifts. These gifts included visions and dreams, tames 242 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:04,200 Speaker 1: that were sometimes violent and disturbing. She saw herself and 243 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:08,080 Speaker 1: various members of her family coming to harm. She didn't 244 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:10,960 Speaker 1: do any kind of introspection about whether these images had 245 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:14,360 Speaker 1: some kind of root cause she saw them as direct 246 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:17,600 Speaker 1: messages from God. But some of the people who have 247 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 1: written about her have speculated that some of this imagery 248 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 1: was a response to the place and time where she 249 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:26,720 Speaker 1: was living. In the early nineteenth century, there was a 250 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:30,360 Speaker 1: violent racist backlash against the free black community and the 251 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:35,400 Speaker 1: abolition movement in Philadelphia and in Pennsylvania more broadly. We 252 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:37,800 Speaker 1: have talked about this in a couple of previous episodes 253 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:41,280 Speaker 1: of the show, including our episode on Lucretia Mott and 254 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:44,360 Speaker 1: our interview with historian Callie Nicole Gross, in which we 255 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:48,720 Speaker 1: talked about ongoing racism and racist violence in Philadelphia after 256 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 1: the Civil War. This violence included things like a white 257 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: mob burning down the abolitionist meeting venue Pennsylvania Hall, four 258 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,400 Speaker 1: days after it opened. Bethel A. M. E. Which was 259 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:04,600 Speaker 1: damaged in this same act of arson. Yeah, we're gonna 260 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,840 Speaker 1: have that episode on Lucretia Mott as a Saturday classic 261 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:11,440 Speaker 1: coming up for folks who want more of that context up. 262 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 1: So in addition to that, racist violence was also escalating 263 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:18,080 Speaker 1: in other parts of the Northeastern US in the decades 264 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:21,680 Speaker 1: before the Civil War. That means that when Jackson started 265 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:25,480 Speaker 1: traveling as an itinerant minister, she was taking a big risk, 266 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:29,800 Speaker 1: especially since Samuel did not go with her. She traveled 267 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 1: all over the Northeastern United States preaching and healing. She 268 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: found both black and white converts in response to her preaching, 269 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:40,880 Speaker 1: but there were also a lot of people who denounced her, 270 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:44,560 Speaker 1: or disrupted her meetings or threatened her life over what 271 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:47,720 Speaker 1: she was doing. In addition to the fact that she 272 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:52,560 Speaker 1: was a black woman preaching to racially integrated congregations, some 273 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: of what she was preaching was deeply controversial, especially the 274 00:16:55,880 --> 00:17:00,440 Speaker 1: idea of celibacy even within the context of marriage. She 275 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:03,400 Speaker 1: was also doing all this while experiencing some kind of 276 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:08,040 Speaker 1: chronic or recurrent illness. She wrote about three different times 277 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: that she thought she was going to die, but lived 278 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,439 Speaker 1: because she was needed to do God's work. Some of 279 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:17,320 Speaker 1: her descriptions from her journals suggests that she may have 280 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:21,239 Speaker 1: been experiencing seizures. There's a gap in what we know 281 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:24,880 Speaker 1: about Jackson's life that stretches from about eighteen thirty six 282 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 1: to eighteen forty, but at some point during those years, 283 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:31,200 Speaker 1: she became part of a group in Albany, New York 284 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:34,000 Speaker 1: that became known as the Little Band. This was a 285 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:39,359 Speaker 1: perfectionist group that was predominantly white. So perfectionism isn't one 286 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:43,520 Speaker 1: specific theology, but it's rooted in the idea of it 287 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:47,920 Speaker 1: being possible to spiritually perfect oneself to become fully free 288 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:51,199 Speaker 1: from sin, So it has some common elements to that 289 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:55,880 Speaker 1: sanctification that we talked about earlier. During these years, Jackson 290 00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:59,280 Speaker 1: also met Rebecca Parrott sometimes spelled with two T s 291 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:03,160 Speaker 1: pe r O t T. Parad was born in eighteen 292 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:06,520 Speaker 1: sixteen or eighteen eighteen and was about eighteen when she 293 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:10,600 Speaker 1: and Jackson first met. In eighteen thirty six. Parad became 294 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:14,199 Speaker 1: Jackson's closest companion, and the two women were together for 295 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:17,159 Speaker 1: the rest of Jackson's life, so for more than thirty 296 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:22,720 Speaker 1: five years. We mentioned Jackson's sometimes frightening and violent visions 297 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:27,480 Speaker 1: and dreams earlier. Her journals just detail so many of them, 298 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:31,120 Speaker 1: but not all of her visions were violent or frightening. 299 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:34,080 Speaker 1: Some of the ones that involved Rebecca Parrot are actually 300 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:36,640 Speaker 1: the opposite. Here's the one that she wrote about from 301 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:39,840 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty one quote. I dreamt that Rebecca and me 302 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:43,159 Speaker 1: lived together. The door opened west, and there was a 303 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 1: river that came from the west, and it ran eastward, 304 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:49,120 Speaker 1: passing our house on the south side, and one part 305 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:52,879 Speaker 1: came front on the west, a beautiful white river. I 306 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:55,840 Speaker 1: stood in the west door, looking westward at the beautiful river. 307 00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: I saw Rebecca Parat coming in the river, her face 308 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:01,639 Speaker 1: to the east, and she a plunging in the water 309 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:06,240 Speaker 1: every few steps, head foremost a bathing herself. She only 310 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:09,640 Speaker 1: had on her undergarment. She was pure and clean, even 311 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:11,879 Speaker 1: as the water in which she was a bathing. She 312 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:14,960 Speaker 1: came facing me out of the water. I wondered she 313 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:18,240 Speaker 1: was not afraid. Sometimes she would be hid for a moment, 314 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:21,639 Speaker 1: then she would rise again. She looked like an angel. Oh, 315 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:25,480 Speaker 1: how bright. Gene McMahon, whom is who edited a collection 316 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:29,919 Speaker 1: of Jackson's writings, describes this relationship as one that combined 317 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:35,440 Speaker 1: elements of motherhood, marriage, and sisterhood. Other people's writings from 318 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:38,960 Speaker 1: the time sometimes described Jackson and Parrot as mother and daughter, 319 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:43,120 Speaker 1: or as a spiritual mother and daughter. Jackson also kept 320 00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:47,040 Speaker 1: Parrott's journals within the pages of her own. Paratt could 321 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:50,320 Speaker 1: not read, so she would dictate her journal entries to Jackson, 322 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:53,960 Speaker 1: who wrote them down with her own journal entries. We'll 323 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:56,880 Speaker 1: talk about how Jackson and Parratt joined the Shakers. After 324 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:09,240 Speaker 1: a quick sponsor break at the end of eighteen forty two, 325 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:13,120 Speaker 1: several members of the Little Band, including its founder Alan Pierce, 326 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,560 Speaker 1: visited a community of Shakers. So, like we said at 327 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: the top of the show, the Shakers are more formally 328 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:23,440 Speaker 1: known as the United Society of Believers in Christ Second Appearing. 329 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:27,680 Speaker 1: They started out in the seventeen forties near Manchester, England, 330 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:30,879 Speaker 1: as an offshoot of the Quakers, also called the Religious 331 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:34,840 Speaker 1: Society of Friends. The name Shakers actually started out as 332 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: a nickname, kind of insulting nickname that outsiders gave them 333 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:42,320 Speaker 1: because their mode of worship included a state of ecstatic 334 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:47,080 Speaker 1: dancing that could involve shaking or trembling. Shaker leader Mother 335 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:49,639 Speaker 1: Ann Lee, immigrated to New York with a group of 336 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:54,200 Speaker 1: followers in seventeen seventy four, seeking freedom from religious persecution. 337 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 1: The United Society of Believers in Christ Second Appearing then 338 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:03,159 Speaker 1: established another member of communities in the US. These communities 339 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:08,400 Speaker 1: were focused on simplicity, communal living, and celibacy, including strictly 340 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:12,760 Speaker 1: dividing the community by gender for everything from living spaces 341 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:16,360 Speaker 1: to work duties. When people joined the Shakers, they settled 342 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:19,200 Speaker 1: their debts with the outside world and then turned any 343 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:23,360 Speaker 1: money or property they had over to the collective. Shaker 344 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:27,840 Speaker 1: communities became known for simple, practical clothing and for simple 345 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:32,919 Speaker 1: but also finally made handicrafts like furniture and brooms. Because 346 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:35,760 Speaker 1: the people living in these communities were celibate, they could 347 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:40,760 Speaker 1: only grow through recruiting new adult members or through adopting, fostering, 348 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:45,200 Speaker 1: or indenturing children. That was something that led to accusations 349 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: that Shakers were really kidnappers. Leaving the UK did not 350 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:52,480 Speaker 1: ultimately protect the Shakers from religious persecution. There was a 351 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:55,600 Speaker 1: whole anti Shaker movement in the United States and the 352 00:21:55,680 --> 00:22:00,439 Speaker 1: nineteenth century. Shaker beliefs were also connected to millinaire as um, 353 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:04,760 Speaker 1: or the belief that before the Last Judgment, Christ would 354 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 1: establish a Kingdom of God on Earth, which would continue 355 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:13,159 Speaker 1: for a thousand years. Mother Ann Lee died in seventour 356 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:15,919 Speaker 1: and some of her followers came to believe that she 357 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 1: had been the second manifestation of the Divine Spirit to 358 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:22,720 Speaker 1: take a human form on earth, the first one being 359 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:26,760 Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. This aligned with Shaker beliefs that God had 360 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:31,440 Speaker 1: both male and female manifestations, and about the eighteen thirties 361 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:34,920 Speaker 1: a new belief arose within the Shakers, which was described 362 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:38,359 Speaker 1: as Mother Ann's work. This was rooted in the idea 363 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,600 Speaker 1: that Mother Anne was continuing her religious work in the 364 00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:45,640 Speaker 1: spirit world and that was leading spirits to manifest themselves 365 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:49,560 Speaker 1: to Shakers who were still living. Has had some parallels 366 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:52,760 Speaker 1: to the spiritualist movement that was developing at about the 367 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:57,240 Speaker 1: same time, including mediums who acted as conduits for spirits 368 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:02,399 Speaker 1: and seance like rituals. The number of Shaker believers peaked 369 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 1: in the eighteen forties at about six thousand, living primarily 370 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:10,400 Speaker 1: among eighteen rural communities in the northeastern US and what 371 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:12,760 Speaker 1: was at the time thought of as the Western Frontier. 372 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:17,000 Speaker 1: The largest of these communities was in Mount Lebanon, New York, 373 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:20,120 Speaker 1: and it was right around this time that Alan Pierce 374 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:24,560 Speaker 1: and the Little Band visited a Shaker community. Pierce felt 375 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:26,600 Speaker 1: that it was God's will for the Little Band to 376 00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:30,920 Speaker 1: become Shakers as well. Over time, sixteen members of the 377 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:34,520 Speaker 1: group did, including some children, but not all of the 378 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:37,560 Speaker 1: Little Band converted, and some of those who did ultimately 379 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,159 Speaker 1: wound up leaving. The Shaker way of life could be 380 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 1: really difficult and involved a lot of strict rules and 381 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:47,200 Speaker 1: hard work, and existing families were separated into new living 382 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:50,240 Speaker 1: and working groups after they became part of the community. 383 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:52,640 Speaker 1: Jackson was one of the people from the Little Band 384 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:55,960 Speaker 1: who didn't join the Shakers right away, although she did 385 00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:58,479 Speaker 1: see a lot of overlap between her own beliefs and 386 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,679 Speaker 1: Shaker teachings. This included her belief in celibacy and the 387 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:07,480 Speaker 1: idea that a person could experience divine revelations directly from God. 388 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:13,640 Speaker 1: Shakers described these revelations, prophecies, and spiritual manifestations as gifts, 389 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:17,040 Speaker 1: and the gifts the Shakers experienced were much like the 390 00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:21,240 Speaker 1: religious and spiritual experiences that Jackson had in her own life. 391 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:25,280 Speaker 1: Even though she didn't become a believer right away, Jackson 392 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:28,960 Speaker 1: did find a new level of zeal and urgency in 393 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:33,480 Speaker 1: her own religious work. She had been experiencing religious visions 394 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:36,280 Speaker 1: for years at this point, but after learning more about 395 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:39,760 Speaker 1: the Shaker belief in the dualism of God, more of 396 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:43,119 Speaker 1: the spiritual teachers who she saw in these visions were women. 397 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:47,720 Speaker 1: In eighteen forty seven, Rebecca Cox Jackson and Rebecca Parat 398 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:51,320 Speaker 1: formally joined the Shaker community at water Voleet, New York, 399 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:54,600 Speaker 1: just north of Albany. A few members of the little 400 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:58,159 Speaker 1: Band who hadn't yet converted, became believers at the same time. 401 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:01,880 Speaker 1: This was a little more then four years after Jackson's 402 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:06,040 Speaker 1: first visit to a Shaker community. She and Parat continued 403 00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:08,400 Speaker 1: to live together, and they were often known as either 404 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:12,960 Speaker 1: the Two Rebecca's or the Black Rebecca's. Rebecca Cox Jackson's 405 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:17,960 Speaker 1: relationship with her husband, Samuel had really been deteriorating four years. 406 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:21,040 Speaker 1: She had also come to the conclusion that it was 407 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:25,000 Speaker 1: just not possible to maintain both her religious life and 408 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:28,639 Speaker 1: her marriage, even if that marriage was celibate. When she 409 00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:31,879 Speaker 1: joined the Shakers. She and her husband finally separated, and 410 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,840 Speaker 1: then he died At some point after that, although the 411 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 1: exact date of his death is not clear. Samuel continued 412 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:42,879 Speaker 1: to appear in her dreams and visions, though including an 413 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:47,240 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty five vision in which quote, his countenance was sorrowful, 414 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:50,120 Speaker 1: such a one I think I never saw upon immortal. 415 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:55,280 Speaker 1: Its expressions seemed to implore mercy. She describes him as 416 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:57,720 Speaker 1: seeing and feeling that he had to put all his 417 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:00,840 Speaker 1: things in order and right all his wrongs, and that 418 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:03,399 Speaker 1: when he saw that she was ready to forgive him quote, 419 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:07,879 Speaker 1: the tears of contrition flowed in abundance. In spite of 420 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:12,000 Speaker 1: all that commonality and overlap between Jackson's belief that she 421 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:14,440 Speaker 1: had come to you on her own and Shaker teachings, 422 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,240 Speaker 1: she really had some trouble adjusting to the Shaker's way 423 00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 1: of life. Shaker communities tended to be rural and self contained, 424 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:26,119 Speaker 1: but Jackson's own spiritual calling involved working among people to 425 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:30,480 Speaker 1: spread God's word. Believers were also beholden to the rules 426 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:33,600 Speaker 1: of their communities and two directions that were handed down 427 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,960 Speaker 1: by Shaker elders and eldresses, but Jackson was used to 428 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:41,120 Speaker 1: following what she saw as directions given directly to her 429 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:44,960 Speaker 1: from God. At the same time, she got a lot 430 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,840 Speaker 1: of praise for her work. For example, Shaker Rufus Bishop 431 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:51,919 Speaker 1: described her speaking at a public meeting in eighteen fifty 432 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:55,200 Speaker 1: this way quote, I do not know as I ever 433 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:58,960 Speaker 1: heard the spectator's lectured in a more suitable and feeling 434 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,800 Speaker 1: manner in my life. Every sentence and word seemed to 435 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:06,320 Speaker 1: come with weight and power and breathed forth love and 436 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:10,720 Speaker 1: goodwill to the children of men. In eighteen fifty the 437 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:14,000 Speaker 1: Two Rebecca's got permission to make a brief visit back 438 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:17,400 Speaker 1: to Philadelphia. It seems like the leaders that water Volie 439 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:21,560 Speaker 1: hoped this would ease some of the tension and disagreements 440 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:24,960 Speaker 1: that had been going on. It didn't, though, and after 441 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:28,280 Speaker 1: briefly returning to water Volie, the Two Rebecca's went back 442 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:33,280 Speaker 1: to Philadelphia again. In eighteen fifty one. Jackson essentially established 443 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,840 Speaker 1: an unsanctioned Shaker community. She really focused her work on 444 00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:40,960 Speaker 1: Philadelphia's black community, and although this is what she felt 445 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:44,400 Speaker 1: like she was called to do, she felt really guilty 446 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:49,080 Speaker 1: about this rift with Shaker leadership in Philadelphia. Jackson and 447 00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:54,880 Speaker 1: Parrott attended seances and spiritualist meetings. Jackson's journals described sensing 448 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:57,159 Speaker 1: many spirits in the room at some of the science 449 00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:01,720 Speaker 1: as they attended. Both of them had visions and prophetic dreams, 450 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:06,120 Speaker 1: which Jackson recorded in her journals. In one of parat dreams, 451 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:10,120 Speaker 1: she Rebecca Jackson and a Shaker woman were all in England, 452 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:13,240 Speaker 1: where the Queen of England crowned Rebecca Jackson King of 453 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:18,480 Speaker 1: Africa and Rebecca Parrot Queen. Then she saw Africa quote 454 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:22,520 Speaker 1: with all her treasures of gold, together with all her inhabitants, 455 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:26,480 Speaker 1: and this was all given unto our charge. In eighteen 456 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:29,480 Speaker 1: fifty seven, the two Rebecca's went back to water Volie, 457 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:32,840 Speaker 1: and they stayed there for about a year. Jackson was 458 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:36,639 Speaker 1: very ill during this time, describing pain and swelling in 459 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 1: her eyes along with blindness. She eventually recovered, and in 460 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 1: October of eighteen fifty eight she was given leave to 461 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:48,080 Speaker 1: establish a small Shaker community in Philadelphia. Sometimes this is 462 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:52,080 Speaker 1: described as an out family. Permission to do this came 463 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:57,000 Speaker 1: from Eldress Paulina Bates, someone Jackson respected but had previously 464 00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:01,200 Speaker 1: argued with over their differences in approach. Bates said she 465 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:04,880 Speaker 1: was speaking on behalf of mother and Lee. According to 466 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:08,520 Speaker 1: Jackson's journals, Bates said, quote, now Rebecca, you may go 467 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:10,920 Speaker 1: to your people and do all the good you can. 468 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:13,840 Speaker 1: Now you can go in the gift of God, and 469 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:17,360 Speaker 1: then the gift of the ministry and elders. Now you 470 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,840 Speaker 1: are endowed with power and authority. Now the Lord hath 471 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:23,719 Speaker 1: sent you. You have waited for the Lord, and you 472 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:27,960 Speaker 1: go under a blessing. The two Rebecca's left for Philadelphia 473 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,440 Speaker 1: again on October eight fifty eight, after being given some 474 00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:34,719 Speaker 1: money to cover travel expenses and some books on Shaker 475 00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:39,080 Speaker 1: theology that Jackson had asked for. Jackson was holding quote 476 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:44,000 Speaker 1: solemn meetings in Philadelphia by the following April. Paulina Bates 477 00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:47,240 Speaker 1: visited this little community several times a year until her 478 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: death in eighteen eighty four, and she eventually became somebody 479 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:53,800 Speaker 1: that Jackson loved and respected deeply as a religious companion 480 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:57,560 Speaker 1: and a mentor. The Shaker community that Jackson established in 481 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:00,680 Speaker 1: Philadelphia was primarily made up of black him in and 482 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:04,680 Speaker 1: all of its leaders were black. Some accounts described them 483 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:07,680 Speaker 1: as living in a house on Erie Street, but several 484 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 1: other addresses connected to the same community are shown in 485 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:14,600 Speaker 1: Shaker records as well. It seems as though the whole 486 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:19,040 Speaker 1: community followed Shaker teachings and practices, but only Jackson and 487 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:24,120 Speaker 1: Parrot received divine gifts and practiced healing. Although the journals 488 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:28,640 Speaker 1: of other Shakers mentioned visiting this Shaker community in Philadelphia, 489 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 1: or they note that it existed, we don't have a 490 00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:34,840 Speaker 1: lot of specific documentation of what day to day life 491 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:38,240 Speaker 1: was like there or Jackson's activities while she was leading 492 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:42,240 Speaker 1: this community. As we said earlier, her journals stopped abruptly 493 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:47,000 Speaker 1: seven years before her death, and that happened on seventy one, 494 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:50,959 Speaker 1: probably from a stroke. Rebecca Cox Jackson was then buried 495 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:55,320 Speaker 1: near some of her blood relatives in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. After 496 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: Rebecca Cox Jackson died, Rebecca Parrot took her name, sometimes 497 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:04,400 Speaker 1: becoming known as Rebecca Cox Jackson Jr. Or as Rebecca 498 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:09,520 Speaker 1: Parrot Jackson. Eventually she became known as just mother Jackson. 499 00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:13,720 Speaker 1: Sometimes this is described as an effort to honor Jackson 500 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:18,160 Speaker 1: and continue her work, but there are also less charitable interpretations, 501 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:21,080 Speaker 1: like that it was more about her own self aggrandizement. 502 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:25,440 Speaker 1: There are no known pictures of Rebecca Cox Jackson, but 503 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:29,000 Speaker 1: there is one of Rebecca Parrot which is sometimes labeled 504 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:32,320 Speaker 1: as Jackson and error. Most likely because of this whole 505 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 1: name change. Rebecca Cox Jackson left behind a lot of writing, 506 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:40,920 Speaker 1: most of it remained unpublished for more than a century, 507 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:44,280 Speaker 1: though Rebecca Parrott gave a lot of it to Shaker leaders. 508 00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:48,040 Speaker 1: Two different Shakers each made a copy of it, sometimes 509 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:52,800 Speaker 1: also making edits. These wound up in various libraries and archives, 510 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:55,160 Speaker 1: and two books that came out in the early nineteen 511 00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:59,560 Speaker 1: eighties compared these different versions when they're being prepared. Rebecca 512 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:03,120 Speaker 1: Parrott continued to lead the Shaker community in Philadelphia for 513 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:08,040 Speaker 1: years after Jackson's death. She and four other members retired 514 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 1: to Water of Leet in eighteen ninety six, and she 515 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:14,080 Speaker 1: lived there until her death in nineteen o one. The 516 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:17,400 Speaker 1: Black Shaker community in Philadelphia seems to have continued for 517 00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:20,680 Speaker 1: at least a few years after that. The last written 518 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 1: mention is in a New York Times article from nineteen 519 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:27,680 Speaker 1: o nine. That article is about elder Ernest Pick, who 520 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:30,320 Speaker 1: had been dismissed from the Shakers and had been trying 521 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:34,160 Speaker 1: to document Shaker communities, which by that point we're really dwindling. 522 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:39,480 Speaker 1: The Times describes him traveling quote from Pittsfield to Philadelphia, 523 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:43,640 Speaker 1: where there is a colored community of Shakers, small in numbers, 524 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:47,840 Speaker 1: as we've alluded to, There are two works about Jackson 525 00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:49,920 Speaker 1: that include a lot of our writing. Both of these 526 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:53,479 Speaker 1: came out in nineteen eighty one. One is called Gifts 527 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:57,640 Speaker 1: of Power, The Writings of Rebecca Jackson, Black Visionary Shaker Eldress. 528 00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:02,840 Speaker 1: That's by Gene McMahon Whomes. That includes introductory material and 529 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:06,400 Speaker 1: analysis on Jackson with her complete writings from eighteen thirty 530 00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:10,040 Speaker 1: to eighteen sixty four. The other is called and Chosen 531 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:13,800 Speaker 1: The Story of Mother Rebecca Jackson and the Philadelphia Shakers 532 00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:18,280 Speaker 1: by Richard E. Williams. That one has biographical material and analysis. 533 00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:21,480 Speaker 1: They're kind of interspersed with quotes, some of them very 534 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:24,080 Speaker 1: lengthy from Jackson's writing. Some sometimes it's like a little 535 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,760 Speaker 1: bit of analysis in a very long passage of her journals. Um. 536 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:30,640 Speaker 1: The journals are very fascinating to read. A lot of 537 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:34,360 Speaker 1: them just in very straightforward and matter of fact language, 538 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:37,560 Speaker 1: just sort of chronicle these visions that she had or 539 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:40,960 Speaker 1: dreams that she had, or the person that she met with, 540 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:44,440 Speaker 1: or her own thoughts and theology. And I wish we 541 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:46,680 Speaker 1: had ones from those gaps to fill in some more 542 00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:50,800 Speaker 1: detail about parts of this story. Do you have a 543 00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:53,480 Speaker 1: little bit of listener mail to fill in details of 544 00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:59,480 Speaker 1: other lives? This is from Sarah. Sarah writes Kia from 545 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:03,160 Speaker 1: Outer ro in New Zealand. As you mentioned on the podcast, 546 00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:06,280 Speaker 1: one of the issues of The Mercator and many other 547 00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:09,960 Speaker 1: projections is that it's Eurocentric. One of the results of 548 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:11,920 Speaker 1: this is that alter to row in New Zealand and 549 00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:15,640 Speaker 1: other Pacific nations are of course off the edge. This 550 00:34:15,680 --> 00:34:19,280 Speaker 1: has led to the Great Map Conspiracy, where New Zealand 551 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:21,720 Speaker 1: has left off maps all over the world, which begs 552 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:25,080 Speaker 1: the question does New Zealand actually exist? There was even 553 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:29,520 Speaker 1: a joking maybe suggestion that New Zealand diplomats carry New 554 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 1: Zealand map stickers to add ourselves back on when we 555 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:37,080 Speaker 1: find we've been left off maps. I've linked a video 556 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:40,080 Speaker 1: made by Reese Darby of Flight of the Concords fame 557 00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:44,200 Speaker 1: and Prime Minister just Sinda Ourdarn, which includes lots of 558 00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:47,680 Speaker 1: Kiwi humor and a bunch of other famous kiwi's. There's 559 00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:50,440 Speaker 1: a link to this video. Thanks for all the podcasts 560 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:53,120 Speaker 1: they've kept me company over many many years, sewing, sitting 561 00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:56,239 Speaker 1: up with babies, traveling for my own work. I've attached 562 00:34:56,560 --> 00:35:00,279 Speaker 1: photos of my mouse she Bingi and my rescue cat 563 00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:03,480 Speaker 1: ru which is the word in Rayo Maori for our 564 00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:07,520 Speaker 1: native owl which he has similar colorings too. So that's 565 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:10,880 Speaker 1: from Sarah. Thank you so much, Sarah for sending this. Uh. 566 00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:14,400 Speaker 1: We sure did not mention how often New Zealand has 567 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:17,399 Speaker 1: left off of maps. And what's bizarre is sometimes there's 568 00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:21,359 Speaker 1: a space right there that like New Zealand logically would 569 00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:26,799 Speaker 1: be end and it's not there New Zealand, which is 570 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:30,759 Speaker 1: a pity because so much good stuff comes from New Zealand. Yeah. 571 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:33,560 Speaker 1: Being from the United States means that we very often 572 00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:38,600 Speaker 1: see US maps that have this just weird, weird ways 573 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,719 Speaker 1: of adding in Alaska and Hawaii since they are not 574 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:46,480 Speaker 1: contiguous with the other forty eight states. Um. And I 575 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:51,600 Speaker 1: remember there being COVID maps early in the pandemic that 576 00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:54,319 Speaker 1: just didn't have Hawaii on there at all, and people 577 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:58,000 Speaker 1: were like, but where's Hawaii though, Like that also is 578 00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:01,439 Speaker 1: a state. Uh. And then of other places which are 579 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 1: territories are otherwise connected to the US, which are also 580 00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:07,719 Speaker 1: not included on these maps at all. Um. This made 581 00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:09,960 Speaker 1: me think of this with this email. But then in 582 00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:13,960 Speaker 1: this video which I watched, and it is delightful. Uh, 583 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:17,040 Speaker 1: they kept they keep finding all of these world maps 584 00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:19,399 Speaker 1: like out you know, it's just in day to day 585 00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:21,759 Speaker 1: life and a lot of them. I'm like, but that's 586 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,520 Speaker 1: the space for New Zealand right there, even to scale 587 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,720 Speaker 1: with the rest of the map, like why is it gone? 588 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:33,439 Speaker 1: Uh not actually something to be laughing at necessarily, but 589 00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:38,399 Speaker 1: the video is made with a humorous spin. So thank 590 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:41,520 Speaker 1: you so much for sharing that with us, Sarah. We'll 591 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:44,439 Speaker 1: put a link to that in our social media when 592 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:48,480 Speaker 1: we uh tweet about this episode. Oh and also thank 593 00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:52,759 Speaker 1: you for these animal pictures. I love them. Um. I 594 00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:54,920 Speaker 1: did the thing where when I printed out this email 595 00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:58,800 Speaker 1: to read it, I accidentally printed out the pictures also, 596 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:01,239 Speaker 1: and so now I have these giant eight and a 597 00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:06,040 Speaker 1: half by eleven print outs of pets. Uh. If you'd 598 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:08,320 Speaker 1: like to write to us, we're history podcasts that I 599 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:10,800 Speaker 1: hit radio dot com. I'm gonna say I hope I 600 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,959 Speaker 1: did okay pronouncing the words in Mary, I did try 601 00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:17,320 Speaker 1: very hard to listen in practice before reading this email. 602 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:20,200 Speaker 1: We are all over social media at missed in History. 603 00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:23,600 Speaker 1: That's re'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram, and 604 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:27,560 Speaker 1: you can subscribe to our show on the I Heart 605 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:29,480 Speaker 1: radio app and wherever else you'd like to get your 606 00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:37,200 Speaker 1: podcasts stuff. You missed in History Class is a production 607 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:40,640 Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, 608 00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:44,000 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 609 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:45,400 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.