Memoirs of the Life, Religious Experience, Ministerial Travels, and Labours of Mrs. Elaw
(Part of the Regenerations: African American Literature and Culture Series)
No Customer Reviews
Select Format
Select Condition 
Book Overview
The remarkable autobiography of a Black woman evangelist. As a young Black orphan indentured to a Quaker family in Bristol, Pennsylvania, Zilpha Elaw (c. 1793-1873) decided to join the upstart Methodists in 1808. She preached her first sermon a decade later, ignoring her husband and the many church leaders, clergy, and laity who tried to silence her. Elaw's memoir chronicles the first twenty years of her forty-year itinerant ministry during massive Protestant revivalism in the United States and England. Elaw preached from Maine to Virginia, attracting multiracial and multidenominational audiences that included powerful men, wealthy White women, poor families, and enslaved communities. She moved from Bristol to Burlington, New Jersey, then to Nantucket, Massachusetts, and finally, in 1840, to London's East End. In England, Elaw's celebrity expanded, and at least twice she drew crowds so large they caused human stampedes and multiple injuries. Blockett's introduction and extensive annotations draw on newly unearthed information about the entirety of Elaw's evangelism to provide context for this remarkable story of an antebellum Black woman's personal and professional mobility.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:1952271274
ISBN13:9781952271274
Release Date:December 2021
Publisher:West Virginia University Press
Length:264 Pages
Weight:0.67 lbs.
Dimensions:0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"
Customer Reviews
0 rating
Copyright © 2025 Thriftbooks.com
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Cookie Policy | Cookie Preferences | Accessibility Statement
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
