[103] A third attempt was carefully planned by a posse of 30 men who surrounded the home after midnight, broke down the door with an ax, and intended to carry the preacher off in an oxcart. For this, the Friend endured hate. Their familys Quaker Meeting did not believe their story and dismissed them from the community. Judge William Potter and James Parker, two of the Friends earliest followers, balked at the idea of a completely communal society. The Friends early life was not particularly exceptional. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. Corrections? For some, it offered a way to escape the confined of expected gender roles, and for others, it was a corrosive force. But a core group of followers remained devoted until the Friends death, which was likely caused by an illness, in 1819, Noel said. Indeed, the single published work by the Friend was signed, your friend and brother, and the Friend and various female followers commonly adopted more masculine dress. Gertrude Kasebier, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. [20][21], In October 1776 Jemima Wilkinson contracted an epidemic disease, most likely typhus, and was bedridden and near death with a high fever. The transformation from Jemima to Public Universal Friend occurred on the morning of October 10, 1776, following a night of fevered dreams. In The Public Universal Friend, Paul B. Moyer tells the story of Wilkinson and her remarkable church, the Society of Universal Friends. Hugh Bridport/Library of CongressWomen played a major role in the First Great Awakening and the Friend asserted that women should have a voice in worship. I think weve just become a little more aware of the magnitude of what the Friend was doing, Noel said. 13-14, Wisbey (2009), pp. Let's connect and explore how we can collaborate to drive positive change! Becoming the Public Universal Friend kind of allows her to escape all that. According to historian Susan Juster, the Friend applied the Bible verse Galatians 3:28: There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. In sermons, the Friend would also compare the reincarnation of Jemima Wilkinsons body to the prophecies of Jeremiah 31:22: the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man, Adam Morris wrote in his book American Messiahs: False Prophets of a Damned Nation., Shes a woman in her mid-20s. Since the Friends death, however, historians have been split on which pronouns are most appropriate to describe them. Nicols Enrquez de Vargas (artist), Portrait of Sor Juana Ins de la Cruz, ca. [74][75] Several members of the congregation of Universal Friends were black, and they acted as witnesses for manumission papers. 1890. The Friend began to travel and preach throughout southern New England, and by the power of his personality and his commanding figure, more than through the rather conventional message of repentance, soon attracted a following. [143], Portrait from David Hudson's 1821 biography, Beliefs, preaching, and the Society of Universal Friends, Settlement of the Gore and Jerusalem, and legal issues. Abraham Dayton acquired a large area of land in Canada from Governor John Graves Simcoe, though Sarah Richards persuaded the Friend not to move so far. [67][68] Calling for the abolition of slavery,[71][72][73] the Friend persuaded followers who held people in slavery to free them. A gay first lady? My favorite quote from Rachel in this episode was, "When you're in a liberated space, you do liberated things." 1 hr 13 min. The figure would be known simply as the Public Universal Friend.. 48:32 48-Minute Listen Playlist Download Embed Transcript The Public Universal Friend. Jemima Wilkinson, also called (from October 1776) Publick Universal Friend, (born November 29, 1752, Cumberland, Rhode Island [U.S.]died July 1, 1819, near present-day Penn Yan, New York, U.S.), American religious leader who founded an unorthodox Christian sect, the Universal Friends, many of whose adherents declared her a messiah. They died on July 1, 1819. At this time there would have been expectations of marriage, Moyer said. The Friend refused to respond to the name Jemima Wilkinson. But while the messenger was unique; the message was not. Unlike most self-proclaimed prophets, this divine messenger was neither a woman nor a man. Nineteenth-century historians researched their life and tried to determine the truth. Many of these historians rejected the Friend as a true religious leader, and claimed that they led a religious hoax. The Public Universal Friend was born in Rhode Island on November 29, 1752. The Publick Universal Friend. 01 Jun 2023 04:42:21 Combine this life story with any of the following resources for a lesson on colonial women and religious life: Life Story: For more about womens roles in the spiritual moments of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, see. Yates County History CenterThe Public Universal Friend was the first non-binary preacher in American history. [88][89], In October 1794, the Friend and several followers dined with Thomas Morris (son of financier Robert Morris) in Canandaigua at the invitation of Timothy Pickering, and accompanied him to talks with the Iroquois aimed at producing the Treaty of Canandaigua. [111][113], The Friend's Home and temporary burial chamber stands in the town of Jerusalem, and it is included on the National Register of Historic Places. [114] It is believed to be located on the same branch of Keuka Lake as the birthplace of Seneca chief Red Jacket,[115] but his birthplace is disputed. [96] Separately, Thomas Hathaway and Benedict Robinson had purchased a site in 1789 along a creek which they named Brook Kedron that emptied into the Crooked Lake (Keuka Lake). P.U.F uses the same phrase God told Moses to use to identify God to the Israelites. Engraving. Critics branded the Friend a false prophet and rejected the Societys message. [7] Early biographer David Hudson says that Amy was also a member of the Society for many years,[6]:9 while later biographer Herbert Wisbey finds no evidence of that, but quotes Moses Brown as saying the child was "born such" because of Jeremiah's affiliation. Critically, obeying the Friends word was also key to salvation. And in the midst of it all there arose a self-proclaimed genderless prophet the Public Universal Friend. Wisbey (2009), pp. The Society of Universal Friends disappeared by the 1860s. Identifying as neither male nor female, the Friend presented as gender nonconforming and rejected gendered pronouns. [61] These followers included roughly equal numbers of women and men who were predominantly under 40. Moyer argued that men like Potter and Parker turned on the Friend in part because the prophets influence threatened that of a mans. Moyer, p. 12; Winiarski, p. 430; and Susan Juster, Lisa MacFarlane. Men pursued careers while women raised children. [82] The portion of households headed by women in the Society's settlements (20%) was much higher than in surrounding areas. The Public Universal Friend described themself as a genderless spirit sent by God to inhabit the resurrected body of a woman named Jemima Wilkinson. The settlement led the Society of Universal Friends to become insulated, and prevented it from gaining new members. However, Jemimas life was that of a typical Quaker colonist, with no indication of the iconic figure they would become. According to the Friend, Jemimas soul had passed into heaven, and God had reanimated their body with the spirit of the Friend sent to spread the Quaker gospel. Use this life story as the starting point of a larger research project about the many different religious groups that arose in the English colonies. The New York Historical Society refers to the Friend as they. Meanwhile, Paul Moyer chose female pronouns for Jemima Wilkinson and male pronouns for the Friend. Join our Discord server! The Historic New Orleans Collection, acc. [6]:118 Identifying as neither male nor female,[26][27][28] the Friend asked not to be referred to with gendered pronouns. Ep 1: Queer Joy with Rachel Rothenberg. [15][16][17][18] Jemima Wilkinson's sister Patience was dismissed at the same time for having an illegitimate child; brothers Stephen and Jeptha had been dismissed by the pacifistic Society in May 1776 for training for military service. In 1796, Western New York represented an untamed wilderness to colonial Americans. The Public Universal Friend instead asserted that it was every persons right to speak their mind. . The Friend suffered declining health after the turn of the century and they died at 66 in 1819. In 1784, the Friend began to publish advice for their followers, guidelines that they wanted their followers to live by. The Society of Universal Friends ceased to exist by the 1860s. The Friend mandated that women should be expected to obey only God and not men and encouraged celibacy. Genevieve Carlton earned a Ph.D in history from Northwestern University with a focus on early modern Europe and the history of science and medicine before becoming a history professor at the University of Louisville. [17][18][16], The Public Universal Friend rejected the ideas of predestination and election, held that anyone regardless of gender could gain access to God's light and that God spoke directly to individuals who had free will to choose how to act and believe, and believed in the possibility of universal salvation. [57][58] According to a Philadelphia newspaper, later followers Sarah Richards and James Parker believed themselves to be the two witnesses mentioned in Revelation and accordingly wore sackcloth for a time. [39], T. Fleischmann's essay "Time Is the Thing the Body Moves Through" examines the Friend's narrative with an eye to the colonizing nature of evangelism in the US,[141] viewing it as "a way to think through the limitations of imagination as a white settler". [22][21] The future preacher's family summoned a doctor from Attleboro, six miles away, and neighbors kept up a death-watch at night. English cave may have ties to king-turned-saint and Viking invasion, archaeologists say. Many modern writers have portrayed the Friend as a pioneering figure in the history of women's rights (like Juster), sometimes even while acknowledging that the Friend defied the idea of gender as binary and as essential or innate (like Catherine Brekus and Catherine Wessinger),[19] or else in transgender history (like Scott Larson and Rachel Hope Cleves). While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 12, 18; Brekus (2000), p. 82; originally spelled. September 30, 2021. . [103][102] A doctor who had come with the posse stated that the Friend was in too poor a state of health to be moved, and they made a deal that the Friend would appear before an Ontario county court in June 1800, but not before Justice Parker. But the prophets gender identity was not a central focus of Moyers research when he wrote the book in 2015, and it wasnt a topic often discussed by the Friend, he said. [124][125], Another story began at a 1787 meeting, after which Sarah Wilson said Abigail Dayton tried to strangle Wilson while she slept but choked her bedmate Anna Steyers by mistake. They dressed in a combination of male and female clothing, including vests, neckties, and skirts. not to be referred to with gendered pronouns, A genderless prophet drew hundreds of followers long before the age of nonbinary pronouns, https://nonbinary.wiki/w/index.php?title=Public_Universal_Friend&oldid=33225, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0), establishing a Christian religious movement, the Society of Universal Friends, This page was last edited 13:54, 10 July 2022 by Nonbinary Wiki user. They assume the title of the Universal Friend of Mankind; hence their followers distinguish themselves by the name of Friends., Hannah Adams, Alphabetical Compendium of the Various Sects, 1784. [48][45] The Friend was said to move easily, freely, and modestly,[49] and was described by Ezra Stiles as "decent & graceful & grave". Indeed, the Public Universal Friend espoused gender nonconformity before there was even a word to describe it. [94][95] However, problems arose. 1750. Tweet at us @throughlineNPR, send us an email, or leave us a voicemail at (872) 588-8805. Wilkinson grew up in a Quaker family and early displayed a . The center has a permanent exhibit focused on the Friend, who formed the first pioneer settlement in what is now Yates County for many years. The Public Universal Friend was an 18th-century American preacher who traveled across the northeastern United States. The sect was born in 1776. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. experienced a burgeoning religious enthusiasm. [134][140] Bronski cites the Friend as a rare instance of an early American publicly identifying as non-binary. Furthermore, the lands were in the tract on which Phelps and Gorham defaulted which was resold to financier Robert Morris and then to the Pulteney Association, absentee British speculators. The Public Universal Friend was the first non-binary preacher in American history. What influences shaped the Public Universal Friends childhood? The Public Universal Friend[a] (born Jemima Wilkinson; November 29, 1752 July 1, 1819) was an American preacher born in Cumberland, Rhode Island, to Quaker parents. They preached about the necessity of turning away from sin and repentance to live a Godly life, and this message enlarged the Friends following as they traveled to local Quaker meeting houses to speak. Religion was a powerful force in the daily lives of many people in the European colonies of the Americas. The Public Universal Friends gender presentation caused curiosity and anger, and it was a radical challenge to the status quo that the Friend was not willing to be bound by the customs of the community. A court in colonial Virginia later decreed Thomas(ine) to wear both womens and mens clothing, so as to not be mistaken for either a man or a woman, but to be immediately recognizable as intersex. The Yates County Genealogical and Historical Society's museums in Penn Yan exhibit the Friend's portrait, Bible, carriage, hat, saddle, and documents from the Society of Universal Friends. 2-5, 53; Moyer (2015), pp. Moyer argues that the Friends genderless nature was primarily due to a religious calling. The Public Universal Friend died on 1 July 1819 in Jerusalem. Sampson later married and had three children. With the prophet went the Society. We love to hear from our listeners! The Public Universal Friend[note 1] (November 29, 1752 July 1, 1819), was born as a fourth-generation English-American to a Quaker family in Rhode Island, and assigned female at birth. This week, how the Public Universal Friend rocked society's norms and paved the way for others to reject religious and gender expectations for centuries to come. [133][134], Juster and others state that, to followers, the Friend may have embodied Paul's statement in Galatians 3:28 that "there is neither male nor female" in Christ. But in general, the Friend did not spend a lot of time contemplating gender, Moyer said. New-York Historical Society Library. [c][36] Hudson says that when visitors asked if it was the name of the person they were addressing, the Friend simply quoted Luke 23:3 ("thou sayest it"). After a decade-plus solo career, PUF's 2021 debut PERENNIALS served as a coming out record for Friend, disclosing her gay trans womanhood by way of its release. The Public Universal Friend is an elegantly written and comprehensive history of an important and too little known figure in the spiritual landscape of early America. The pamphlet advised forsaking worldly pleasures for the pursuit of spiritual growth, advocacy of the concept of human free will, and advanced the doctrine of universal salvation. This new person was called the Public Universal Friend and lived only to serve God. Historian Michael Bronski says that the Friend would not have been called transgender or transvestite "by the standards and the vocabulary" of the time,[130] but has called the Friend a "transgender evangelist". The New Light Baptists also mandated that ordinary people like Wilkinson could communicate with God directly, which elevated ones personal connection with the divine. "Reborn" in their place was the Public Universal Friend, neither male nor female. [38] When someone asked if the Friend was male or female, the preacher replied "I am that I am",[39][40] saying the same thing to a man who criticized the Friend's manner of dress. Further reading about the Public Universal Friend can often be found under the birth name of Jemima Wilkinson. The Friend held dramatic sermons during which disciples would sometimes convulse. The Universal Friends followers split along predictable lines. [131][132] Juster calls the Friend a "spiritual transvestite", and says that followers considered the Friend's androgynous clothing congruent with the genderless spirit which they believed animated the preacher. Former followers testified that the Friend said she was the Son of God and that this blasphemy threatened the states authority. The Friend was not always welcome to speak at meetinghouses, and there were suspicious rumors about the Friends intent. [15][16] Followers considered the Friend's androgynous clothing consistent with the evangelist's genderless spirit, and Susan Juster and other writers speculate that, for followers, the Friend embodied Paul's statement in Galatians 3:28 that "there is neither male nor female" in Christ. In addition to scholarly publications with top presses, she has written for Atlas Obscura and Ranker. Amid political innovation and social transformation, Revolutionary America was also fertile ground for religious upheaval, as self-proclaimed visionaries and prophets established . When they were in their early twenties, a religious group called the New-Light Baptists visited their town. [7] The child was given the name Jemima after Jemima, one of the biblical Job's daughters. The Universal Friends told the world they had left time, because they believed the Friend died in 1776. The Friends increasing influence led to their inclusion in contemporary works documenting religious movements in the revolutionary era: There are also a few in Rhode-Island who adhere to Jemima Wilkinson, who was born in Cumberland. [22][21] The fever broke after several days. The Public Universal Friend followed the Quaker ideal of a peaceable kingdom but shirked more passive Quaker ideas like censuring. The story of the Public Universal . The Public Universal Friend: Jemima Wilkinson and Religious Enthusiasm in Revolutionary America, A genderless prophet drew hundreds of followers long before the age of nonbinary pronouns. Jeremiah Wilkinson was a cousin of Stephen Hopkins, the colony's longtime governor and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Many of Wilkinsons own family members also left the Quaker faith to follow the Friend, which some scholars have argued points to the power of Jemimas transformation into the Friend. New York Public LibraryBorn Jemima Wilkinson in 1752 and reborn the Public Universal Friend in 1776. But the Friends refusal to adhere to traditional gender roles made them an outsider with both men and women religious leaders. They wore mens robes with petticoats underneath and ties with skirts. The Friend also treated wounded soldiers on both sides of the Revolution. They told their family that they had died and the Spirit of God had brought them back to life as a new person who was neither male nor female. Her body had been reincarnated by God, she said, resurrected as a prophet sent to tell all of humanity that the apocalypse was near. [120] The first view was taken by many writers in the 18th and 19th centuries, including David Hudson, whose hostile and inaccurate biography (written to influence a court case over the Society's land) was long influential. In 1794 the Friend moved a few miles west, to the vicinity of Crooked (now Keuka) Lake where, with a small band of the most devoted followers, the Jerusalem township was established. They were a staunch abolitionist and called for the rights of women. The woman formerly known as Jemima Wilkinson now claimed to be the Public Universal Friend, a spirit that was neither male nor female, sent by God to warn the world of its impending doom. State governments, airlines and school districts across the country have begun offering a gender option of X. Merriam-Webster officially adopted the use of the non-binary pronoun they, which it also declared the 2019 word of the year. [d][23][24][25] The Friend further said that Wilkinson's soul had ascended to heaven and the body had been reanimated with a new spirit charged by God with preaching his word, that of the "Publick Universal Friend",[26][27][28] describing that name in the words of Isaiah 62:2 as "a new name which the mouth of the Lord hath named". James Parker spent three weeks in 1791 petitioning the governor and land office of New York on behalf of the Society to get a title to the land that the Friends had settled,[96] but while most of the buildings and other improvements that the Universal Friends made were to the east of the initial Preemption Line and thus in New York, when the line was resurveyed in 1792 at least 25 homes and farms were now west of it, outside the area granted by New York, and residents were forced to repurchase their lands from the Pulteney Association. 1893-1894. Teach this document in any lesson about the First Great Awakening. [119], Although the Public Universal Friend identified as genderless, neither a man nor a woman, many writers have portrayed the preacher as a woman, and either a fraudulent schemer who deceived and manipulated followers or a pioneering leader who founded several towns in which women were empowered to take on roles often reserved to men. Accounts by the doctor and other witnesses state that the illness was real, but none of them say that Wilkinson died. But theres no question that the Friend encouraged more women than ever before to truly have their voices heard. One ex-follower testified that the Friend said her word should be a law., Interestingly, those who were most vocal about defaming the Friend were men. The prophet was heavily scrutinized for their behavior and outward appearance, and for their lack of formal theological training or experience as clergy. They hoped the town would be a safe place to practice their faith and fulfill Gods will, away from the curiosity and critique of the general population. PERENNIALS out NOW Public Universal Friend Wikimedia CommonsIn 1796, Western New York represented an untamed wilderness to colonial Americans. Support us on Ko-fi! Thomasine Hall, Women and the American Story. [133][135] Catherine Wessinger, Brekus, and others state that the Friend defied the idea of gender as binary and as natural and essential or innate,[136][137][138] though Brekus and Juster argue that the Friend nonetheless reinforced views of male superiority by "dressing like a man" and repeatedly insisting on not being a woman. Whereas Wilkinson was discreetly vague about the exact nature of the Friends mission and his relation to divinity, many of the followers openly proclaimed the Friend to be a messiah, a practice that roused considerable animosity against the Universal Friends and their leader by orthodox churches. "[107][108] In accordance with the Friend's wishes, only a regular meeting and no funeral service was held afterwards. Edward Hicks/National Gallery of ArtThe Public Universal Friend followed the Quaker ideal of a peaceable kingdom but shirked more passive Quaker ideas like censuring. Wilkinsons Quaker family was heartily patriotic, but it was against a Quakers beliefs to join in the war. The figure has become local lore in the county, where some descendants of the Friends followers still live. The New-Light Baptists were an intensely religious group whose leaders made impassioned speeches and encouraged a radical approach to worshipping God. In the 1790s, the Friend and the Universal Friends established the town of Jerusalem in New York. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jemima-Wilkinson. All too often, Moyer points out how possession of a female body interfered with work of God's Messenger in the . Their story attracted a lot of attention. I am always seeking new challenges and opportunities to make a difference. Wilkinson was one child of 12 in a hardworking farming family. But the debate over the Friends gender identity merely underscores the singularity in their cause. Soon after, their body was re-animated with the spirit and power of Christ, upon which they set up as a public teacher, and declares they have an immediate revelation for all they deliver. [53][54] Early on, the Public Universal Friend preached that people needed to repent of their sins and be saved before an imminent Day of Judgment. So it made sense that the bulk of the Friends doctrine was a combination of Quaker and Baptist beliefs. They kept their hair short on top of their head, with ringlets in the back. [55][56] According to Abner Brownell, the preacher predicted that the fulfillment of some prophecies of Revelation would begin around April 1780, 42 months after the Universal Friend began preaching, and interpreted New England's Dark Day in May 1780 as fulfillment of that prediction. Born Jemima Wilkinson, the Friend and their siblings were previously. Many in the Friends own time described them as a woman. New-York Historical Society Library. The Public Universal Friend [note 1] (November 29, 1752 - July 1, 1819), was born as a fourth-generation English-American to a Quaker family in Rhode Island, and assigned female at birth. Prior to the Friends awakening, Quaker women had already taken leadership roles in their communities. A portrait of the Public Universal Friend (in black clerical robes and white cravat) from the biography written by David Hudson in 1821. Many rejected the Public Universal Friend. Updates? But that does not make it any less sincere, he said. By aggregating individual . They were smeared as an arrogant, assuming, and presumptuous woman, but the Friend persevered and founded a religious society that garnered hundreds of followers. One hundred years earlier, an intersex person was born in England as Thomas Hall but was raised as Thomasine Hall. Non-binary, pregnant and navigating the most gendered role of all: motherhood. The Friend was the eighth child of twelve. The followers also included a number of influential persons, one of whom, Judge William Potter of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, freed his slaves, abandoned his political career, and built a large addition to his mansion for the Friends use. [107][108], The Friend died on July 1, 1819; the congregation's death book records "25 minutes past 2 on the Clock, The Friend went from here. Potter and Parker, who had invested more money into the community than others, demanded a property redistribution. In later years the Friends Settlement was disturbed by conflicts over ownership of the land, and outside the settlement numerous tales of dictatorial rule, harsh punishments, sexual misconduct, and other strange practices circulated widely among hostile observers. Some accounts of young Jemimas life survive, but the descriptions of their personality are colored by the contemporary desire to create a narrative of a former sinner who had seen the light. Few new followers moved there, and many chose to leave the community because of disputes over land ownership and religious beliefs. How were these differences received? Most of these books refused to use the Friends chosen name, calling them Jemima Wilkinson. Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) Dec 2021 - Dec 20211 month. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. [78] The Friend had few personal possessions, mostly given by followers, and never held any real property except in trust. [29][30] In the 18th and 19th centuries, some writers said that Wilkinson did briefly die during the illness, or even was dead for an extended time before rising dramatically from a coffin, while others suggested that the entire illness was feigned. But disputes within the Society threatened to destroy the utopian community. [84][45] The Friend entrusted Richards with holding the society's property in trust,[85] and sent her to preach in one part of the country when the Friend was in another. The Richards' unhappy marriage ended in 1786, when Abraham died on a visit to the Friend. University of Chicago Library, Special Collections Research Center. Courtesy of Yates County History Center. These 9-Pound, Bird-Eating Crabs 'Talk' To Each Other During Sex, Meet Lady Deborah Moody, The 'Dangerous Woman' Who Founded Gravesend, Brooklyn, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. A few years later, in 1776, the Friend fell ill with a contagious and deadly fever that spread throughout their community. [23][24] The Friend later reported that Jemima Wilkinson had died, receiving revelations from God through two archangels who proclaimed there was "Room, Room, Room, in the many Mansions of eternal glory for Thee and for everyone". The Friend's theology was broadly similar to that of most Quakers. She read from the works of Quakers, a religious group to which her family belonged, and she never married. From then on, the Friend began to gather followers and travel as a preacher. Winiarski, p. 430; and Susan Juster, Lisa MacFarlane. Oil on canvas. This was a movement that inspired colonists to find new ways of worship and presented an opportunity for women to have a stronger voice in church. Still, it would be historically inaccurate to use they/them pronouns when referring to the figure, said Paul B. Moyer, who wrote a book about the Friend. After several days on the brink of death, Wilkinson recovered and declared that she had died only to reanimate as a prophet of God. [96] Others wanted to profit by taking ownership of the land for themselves, including Parker and William Potter. Women were sometimes even invited to preach. She gave herself a small education through books. They also didnt wear the traditional bonnetor head covering women were expected to wear. Shortly before her illness, Wilkinson became intrigued by the New Light Baptists, a religious movement that had enthralled her community with its passionate and radical sermons. The Public Universal Friend was a genderless prophet first documented in 1776. [103] The officer and an assistant later tried to arrest the preacher at home in Jerusalem, but the women of the house drove the men off and tore their clothes. Theres almost a mythic way about the Friend," Noel said. [64], Popular newspapers and pamphlets covered the Friend's sermons in detail by the mid-1780s,[65][66] with several Philadelphia newspapers being particularly critical; they fomented enough opposition that noisy crowds gathered outside each place the preacher stayed or spoke in 1788. As Paul Moyers explained in his 2015 book The Public Universal Friend, the apostates who led the revolt against the prophet were all men, and their methods mark the gendered nature of the rebellion.. The centers website refers to Wilkinson as the first American born woman to form a religious society.. Edward T. James, Janet Wilson James, Paul S. Boyer, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, tract on which Phelps and Gorham defaulted, Yates County Genealogical and Historical Society, A genderless prophet drew hundreds of followers long before the age of nonbinary pronouns, Saints, Sinners and Reformers: The Burned-Over District Re-Visited, Yates County Genealogical & Historical Society Sesquicentennial Celebration 18602010, Jemima Wilkinson, Elusive Messiah by Robert Boucheron, "T Fleischmann Explores the Murky Relationships That Make Us Who We Are", "Jemima Wilkinson: Celibacy and the Communal Life, The Re-Incarnation of the Divine in Female Form, 17581819", "Incorporation Papers for Universal Friends", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Public_Universal_Friend&oldid=1153419890, This page was last edited on 6 May 2023, at 06:50. In the decades that followed, the Friend would draw hundreds of disciples, traversing New England by horseback while wearing male ministers clothing, according to letters from the time. For generations, historians have studied the Public Universal Friend as an odd yet effective spiritual leader during the American Revolution, a tumultuous time of religious experimentation. Fascination with the Friend continued long after their death. Women played an important role in the First Great Awakening. The Public Universal Friend was neither male nor female and refused all gendered pronouns. The figure would be known simply as the "Public Universal Friend." In the decades that followed, the Friend would draw hundreds of disciples, traversing New England by horseback while wearing. The prophets power was a usurpation of male religious authority. The Friends success as a prophet upended traditional gender hierarchies, threatening the norms that put men in charge. [100] To address the first of these issues, members of the Society of Universal Friends had secured some alternative sites. They were part of a larger religious movement that historians now call the First Great Awakening, a movement in which religious enthusiasm spiked and people came up with new ways of worshipping. Product Details About the Author Table of Contents What People Are Saying Product Details About the Author [29] The name referenced the designation the Society of Friends used for members who traveled from community to community to preach, "Public Friends". [12] Most papers focused more on the preacher's ambiguous gender than on theology,[65][66] which was broadly similar to the teachings of most Quakers;[67][68] one person who heard the Friend in 1788 said "from common report I expected to hear something out of the way in doctrine, which is not the case, in fact [I] heard nothing but what is common among preachers" in mainstream Quaker churches. Joyce Appleby, Eileen Chang, Neva Goodwin. The Friend persuaded followers who owned people in slavery to free them, and the Society included black people. Chien-shiung Wu (1912-1997), professor of physics at Columbia University, 1963. 52 talking about this. [103][105][106], The Public Universal Friend's health had been declining since the turn of the century; by 1816 the preacher had begun to suffer from a painful edema, but continued to receive visitors and give sermons. [10], In the mid-1770s, Jemima Wilkinson began attending meetings in Cumberland with New Light Baptists who had formed as part of the Great Awakening and emphasized individual enlightenment,[15] and stopped attending meetings of the Society of Friends being disciplined for that in February 1776 and disowned by the Smithfield Meeting in August. A growing group of Americans today are identifying as genders other than male or female. America in the run-up to the Revolutionary War wasn't just a period of dramatic political change, it was also a time of great religious and social instability, anxiety and experimentation. [97][98] The town, which had been known as the Friend's Settlement, therefore came to be called The Gore.[99]. The Public. The Friend was the eighth child of twelve. "The Public Universal Friend (November 29, 1752 - July 1, 1819) was an American preacher born in Cumberland, Rhode Island, to Quaker parents," the Wikipedia article reads at time of publication. Even the Friends hairstyle, cut short at the top with ringlets in back, defied easy gender categorization. She served for two years in Captain George Webbs Company of Light Infantry but her sex was discovered when she was taken to a hospital after falling ill. Sampson's military service ended with an honorable discharge and a military pension. [69] The Friend's theology was so similar to that of the mainstream Quakers' that one of two published works associated with the preacher was a plagiarism of Isaac Penington's Works because, according to Abner Brownell, the Friend felt that the sentiments would have more resonance if republished in the name of the Universal Friend. [41][42], The Friend dressed in a manner perceived to be either androgynous or masculine,[43][44][45] in long, loose clerical robes which were most often black,[46] and wore a white or purple kerchief or cravat around the neck like men of the time. As the American Revolution raged, the Friend visited several New England states, preaching a message of repentance while warning audiences about the apocalypse. [126][127] One widespread allegation which sparked much hostility was the accusation that the preacher claimed to be Jesus; the Friend and the Universal Friends repeatedly denied this accusation. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. But one figure challenged those gender norms by rejecting gender completely. But 200 years after the self-proclaimed prophets death, the Friends story has circulated widely on social media and taken on a new meaning: a rare example of a person in early American history who publicly identified as non-binary and gained acceptance while doing so, said Michael Bronski, a Harvard University professor and author of A Queer History of the United States.. In Philadelphia, the prophet caused a riot. Jemima was the victim of an illness that may have been typhus. [70] The Universal Friends also used language similar to that of the Society of Friends, using thee and thou instead of singular you. Like many Quakers, the Friend opposed slavery, encouraged celibacy (but did not mandate it) and elevated women to leadership positions. The Friend quoted scripture to justify being neither male nor female. The Friend simply replied: I am that I am., In fact, the exhibit dedicated to the Friend at the Yates County History Center hardly confronted the religious leaders gender identity until recently, Noel said. Followers respected these wishes, largely avoiding gender-specific pronouns even in private diaries, and referring only to "the Public Universal Friend" or short forms such as "the Friend" or "P.U.F. ", and many avoided gender-specific pronouns even in private diaries,[37][36] while others used he. Prior to their transformation to a preacher, the Public Universal Friend was born as Jemima Wilkinson in 1752 to a Quaker family in Rhode Island. [10], The Friend asked not to be referred to with gendered pronouns. Public Universal Friend, born Jemima Wilkinson, was an American preacher known for their activism and unorthodox beliefs compared to other Quakers, including rejecting gender-specific pronouns. Large crowds would come out to hear the Friends sermons. The Public Universal Friend [a] (born Jemima Wilkinson; November 29, 1752 - July 1, 1819) was an American preacher born in Cumberland, Rhode Island, to Quaker parents. While the Public Universal Friend may seem like a unique story, people have lived outside of the gender binary throughout American history. The Society of Universal Friends found its power waning after the death of its leader, and the group had fully disbanded by the late 1860s. How does the Friends story connect to the larger movement of the First Great Awakening? In November 1784 a pamphlet entitled The Universal Friends Advice to Those of the Same Religious Society was published, describing the religious teachings and practices of the Friends sect. Before the Friend came to be, Jemima Wilkinson had been removed from the Quaker church for attending Baptist revivals, Noel said. The most committed members of the Society of Universal Friends were a group of unmarried women who took leading roles in their households and community. G. Schouten/Wikimedia CommonsPrior to the Friends awakening, Quaker women had already taken leadership roles in their communities. At one point, someone asked if the Friend identified as either male or female, according to a letter that appeared in a Philadelphia newspaper, Moyer said. But these former followers did more than just abandon the Society. [8] Jemima's great-grandfather, Lawrence Wilkinson, was an officer in the army of Charles I who had emigrated from England around 1650[9] and was active in colonial government. Jarena Lee, 1849. 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