SITES OF SPECTACLE AND SITES OF SACRIFICE: THE FEMALE ITINERANT PREACHER’S BODY IN THE EARLY AMERICAN REPUBLIC

In the early American republic, white female preachers’ bodies acted as sites of spectacle and sites of sacrifice, creating a distinctly gendered experience of the pulpit in smaller Protestant denominations. Female preachers’ bodies acted as sites of spectacles by drawing large crowds. When lay people heard that a female preacher would be in town, the idea of a woman presenting her body before a crowd drew people’s interest. Female preachers such as Nancy Towle of New Hampshire, or Abigail Roberts of New Jersey, understood and capitalized on this appeal. By reading memoirs about their travels, their popularity stands out clearly, despite some institutional opposition. Women preaching was so radical and attractive because of the public and authoritative nature of a woman standing in front of a crowd and articulating spiritual points. With larger crowds, the denominations such as Primitive Methodists or the Freewill Baptists that supported them hoped they would draw more converts. Female preachers’ bodies also acted as sites of sacrifice because of the hard labor of traveling, poverty, illness, and even death incurred in their work.

Author

• Greer, Caroline S

• body
• Christianity
• gender
• preacher
• Protestantism
• women

Identifier

hdl:1920/15134

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:MARS:1920/15134