UCLA

History notes the strivings forged during the American Revolution by many nineteenth century black founding fathers in pursuit of community and liberation. Central to the narrative of freedom is the creation of black religion during the Second Great Awakening leading to independent black churches. Yet, often absent is the narrative of the black founding mothers. Black women confronted and outmaneuvered the double oppression of race and gender. Theologian James H. Cone’s, A Black Theology of Liberation utilizes a masculine framework to analyze the black experience in America, thus negating black women. This research asserts, Jarena Lee and Maria W. Stewart two nineteenth century proto-feminist pioneers of socio-religious justice radically challenged the sexist ideology of black male leadership. Rather than accepting Cone’s idea of liberation, this research will examine the full mirror theory of liberation in the lives of the founding mothers elucidating how they found freedom in religion.