Searching for Saints: Jerena Lee

Friday Reflection & Conversation

During last Monday’s Empty Altars session, I shared the work of two women — Jerena Lee and Louisa May Alcott — who were 19th century “mystics and utopians.” While most people are familiar with Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, not nearly as many know of Jerena Lee.

Lee was born in 1783 to a free — and very poor — black family in Cape May, Ne…