Weaving the Spider's Web: 19th-Century African American Female Mystical Activism

Abstract

This article explores the mystical activism of nineteenth-century African American female religious leaders Jarena Lee and Rebecca Cox Jackson. It uses a composite notion of Anansi the spider as a metaphor to reveal the intricate interconnections of their sacred-social worlds. In particular, it analyzes how interpretations of Aunt Nancy the spider woman, the North American version of Anansi, relate to these women's mystical experiences and religious activism. The author contends that it is the Aunt Nancy figure that more specifically points to the ways in which these nineteenth-century women mediated sacred power and created emancipatory spaces they could call “home.”