Rebecca Cox Jackson (1795 - 1871)

The life of Rebecca Cox Jackson is trailblazing and unique. Born to a free family, Jackson defied the racial and gender restrictions at a time when Black women were expected to remain silent.  At 35, while trapped in an unhappy marriage to a Philadelphia carpenter, she experienced a life‑changing night of prayer during a violent storm. Soon after, Jackson left the marriage and became an itinerant preacher with a reputation for her sermons, healing and prophetic words. In the decade that followed her itinerant work, Jackson met Rebecca Perot through her Philadelphia prayer circle. The two formed a profound spiritual and emotional partnership that today is widely recognized as part of early LGBTQIA+ history. They eventually entered Shaker life together, founding the only known Black Shaker community in the country. Jackson later wrote Gifts of Power, a rare spiritual autobiography by a 19th‑century Black woman, in which she spoke of her 35‑year covenantal union to Perot. It now stands as one of the earliest documented same‑sex, marriage‑like partnerships in American history— and the earliest known Black example.