Rebecca Cox Jackson was an African-American free woman, best known for her religious activism and for her autobiography.

Biography

Born into a free family, she married Samuel S. Jackson and worked as a seamstress until she had a religious awakening during a thunderstorm in 1830. She got divorced after her husband failed to teach her to read and write, and later realised she was able to do both anyway. Whilst travelling from church to church, she came upon and decided to join the Shakers

Shakers

The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, known as the Shakers, is a religious sect originally thought to be a development of the Religious Society of Friends...

 in Watervliet, New York

Watervliet, New York

Watervliet is a city in Albany County in the US state of New York. The population was 10,254 as of the 2010 census. Watervliet is north of Albany, the capital of the state, and is bordered on the north, west, and south by the town of Colonie. The city is also known as "the Arsenal City".- History...

. However she returned to Philadelphia to live with Rebecca Perot for six years, up until she went back to Watervliet, where she ended her life as Eldress of her own family of (predominately black and female) Shakers in Philadelphia.

Her autobiography, although written between 1830 and 1864, was only published in 1981.