How Two Free Black Women Upended the Religious Establishment
Host Harini Bhat tells the story of Rebecca Cox Jackson and Rebecca Perot, two free Black women in the 19th century who were partners in life and upended the religious establishment to create their own spiritual Shaker community.
While discussing their relationship, we'll ask more than simply, "Were the Two Rebeccas Queer?" and instead broaden the question to how we analyze and speak about the relationships between individuals who existed in a different time, with different societal standards, when people did not have the freedom and safety to live as openly LGBTQ.
In The Margins is a new series that covers the history they didn’t teach in school, exploring obscure, yet captivating tales that offer unique insights into their time and place.
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You can read the writings of Rebecca Jackson in "Gifts of Power: The Writings of Rebecca Jackson, Black Visionary, Shaker Eldress", edited by Jean McMahon Humez.
More about Rebecca Cox Jackson can be found in:
"Rituals of Desire: Spirit, Culture, and Sexuality in the Writings of Rebecca Cox Jackson" by Katherine Clay Bassard
And at these links:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p...
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h...
https://home.shakerheritage.org/mothe...
https://qspirit.net/two-rebeccas-quee...
Check out the Philadelphia LGBT Mapping Project to see where the Two Rebeccas lived:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/vie...
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