[2] Born into a free Black family in New Jersey, Lee asked the founder of the AME church, Richard Allen, to be a preacher.

[3][4] A leader in the Wesleyan-Holiness movement, Lee preached the doctrine of entire sanctification as an itinerant pastor throughout the pulpits of the African Methodist Episcopal denomination.

[6] Jarena Lee was born on February 11, 1783, in Cape May, New Jersey, according to the details she published later in life in an autobiography.

[11] While there, she was introduced to Christian teachings during religious revivals at Allen's church,[12] and felt herself to be a "wretched sinner."

Bishop Richard Allen's teachings inspired her to convert, but she continued to struggle in the male dominated church.

Joseph Lee was a pastor of the African American Society[10] at Snow Hill, six miles from Philadelphia.

[4] The idea that African Americans and women could preach was an element of the Second Great Awakening, which reached its peak as Lee began her missionary work.

[18] Despite Richard Allen's blessing, Lee continued to face hostility to her ministry because she was black and a woman.

Archival research by Dr. Knight suggests that Jarena Lee died penniless in Philadelphia and was buried at Olive Cemetery.

[11] Her life story exemplifies the 19th-century American religious movement's focus on personal holiness and sanctification.

She has been compared to influential African American women of her time, such as Maria W. Stewart and Sojourner Truth.

[21] In the decades after Jarena Lee became a preacher, other women such as Juliann Jane Tillman gained prominence as evangelists within the AME Church.