Rebecca Cox Jackson was born into slavery, became free, and then became a powerful preacher who founded an all-Black women's Shaker community when the AME church refused to let her lead. Her story asks: What will you walk away from to remain faithful to yourself?

When the institution said no, Rebecca Cox Jackson found another way. Born in 1795, she felt a divine calling to preach that she could not ignore. After the African Methodist Episcopal church denied her the right to lead worship because of her gender, she made a radical choice: she left and founded her own Shaker community in Philadelphia, led entirely by Black women.

IN THIS EPISODE:

The story of Rebecca Cox Jackson, formerly enslaved woman turned revolutionary preacher

Why obedience to truth sometimes costs you belonging in spaces you once called home

The history of Black women preachers as spiritual resistance fighters

How to navigate leaving institutions without falling into bitterness

Building new spaces when existing systems refuse to make room

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Introduction to Knowledge Gumbo Podcast

00:31 - Quote: "I felt a great moving in my soul"

00:43 - Who was Rebecca Cox Jackson?

01:17 - The cost of obedience and walking away

02:28 - Black women preachers as history of resistance

03:24 - Building radical spaces outside broken systems

04:03 - Reflection question: What have you walked away from?

ABOUT REBECCA COX JACKSON:

Born into slavery in 1795, Rebecca Cox Jackson became a Shaker elder and powerful preacher in Philadelphia. She left the AME church when they denied her the right to preach and founded her own community led totally by Black women, creating a radical spiritual space that didn't fit neatly into anyone's categories.

Faithful Disobedience: Black Women in the Pulpit