African and African-American women in Christianity

Black women also have served as nuns in the Catholic Church[2] in the United States since the early 19th Century.

The first Catholic women to found their own Religious communities were the Oblate Sisters of Providence in Baltimore.

She was freed from slavery after escaping in 1826, was one of the first black women to ever successfully sue a white man, and converted to Methodism in 1843.

In her memoir, King notes her role in helping and supporting her husband's profession of ecclesiastical leadership.

She assisted in writing sermons and embraced, for the most part, the private practices of her husband, including a dedication to limit materialism in their lives.

[8] Clara Brown was a slave in Kentucky before she gained her freedom at age 56 and was required by law to leave.

She began holding prayer services in her home which eventually evolved into the formation of a non denominational Protestant Church.

[8] Jane Elizabeth Manning James was born free in Connecticut and became a Presbyterian at a young age.

She heard a sermon by a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, converted and was baptized to this sect in 1842.

James moved west with the Church in 1847, eventually settling in the Salt Lake valley, thereby becoming one of the first black women to live in Utah.

Her poetry made her very noteworthy and even garnered attention from ranking government members including President George Washington.

She eventually moved to Baltimore where a relatively large population of French Speaking Blacks lived.

She was lucky to have an education as a black woman in the United States, which was possible due to her father's wealth as a merchant.

The free school that she created eventually transformed into a Catholic religious institution to educate young black women.

This led to the first association of black nuns in the United States called the "Oblate Sisters of Providence".

This association still exists to this day as has been helping do humanitarian work since Mother Mary Lange's death in 1882.

Lee had desires to spread the gospel that had changed her life and was appointed the first female to be a preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Jarena Lee surpassed gender expectations and was a legitimate force in conversion in the United States.