Juliann Jane Tillman

[2] The portrait is labeled "Mrs. Juliann Jane Tillman, Preacher of the A.M.E. Church",[3] and was engraved by Alfred Hoffy and printed by Peter S. Duval in Philadelphia.

"[5][6] The print itself was reproduced many times to help the AME Church reach a wider congregation,[2][6] and is indicative of Tillman's popularity.

[1][7] Tillman was quoted in an 1837 religious newspaper that she had overcome her own doubts – as well as the opposition of clergymen and laymen – after repeated visits by an angel holding a scroll that said, “Thee I have chosen to preach my gospel without delay.”[8] She was never formally ordained.

[3] Historian Aston Gonzalez has suggested that Tillman’s portrait shows how she “created and preserved [her] religious leadership in the 1840s when male AME figures vociferously denounced their claims to preach.”[11] Nevertheless, historian Curtis D. Johnson argues that in the North, a shared desire between African American men and women “to strengthen the black community and to destroy slavery” meant that there was less opposition to black evangelical women such as Lee, Foote, and Tillman entering the public sphere compared to their white counterparts.

[14] Her portrait was also featured in a touring Smithsonian exhibition called "Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities, 1740-1877".