It sounds a little bit like a stripper’s name, but I can assure you she was not. Ann Lee. Born on this day, Leap Day, in 1736 — across the pond in Manchester, England.
Her early life was tough. Her family was poor, as in extremely poor. Her father worked as a blacksmith during the day, and a tailor at night. Not much is known about her mother, although I’m positive she had one.
Their family belonged to a distinct branch of the Society of Friends, Quakers. But, as I mentioned, they were poor. They couldn’t even afford to give their children the basics of education. She signed her name with a mark, her entire life.
Here is the thing about Ann. Sometime during her youth, she became extremely uncomfortable with sexuality, especially her own. She had an absolute repulsion towards sexual activity. Now, I have my theories on this. Either she was abused, which is highly likely, OR she was a lesbian, and didn’t quite know what to do with her true feelings.
Anyway, this aversion to all sexual contact continued. She wanted nothing more than to avoid marriage and remain single, which seems like a reasonable request to me. But as sometimes happens in these stories, back in the days of yore, there is an evil father that has to step in. Yes, eventually her father forced her to marry a guy named Abraham Stanley. This, in 1761. She wanted no part of it, but, she became pregnant four times. Every single one of those children died during infancy. The mind can be a powerful thing. Or perhaps, she did things to end those pregnancies. Who knows.
Either way, Ann Lee’s dislike of sexual relations continued, fueled even more by those lost pregnancies. She came up with a plan for all of that. Lee developed radical religious convictions that advocated celibacy. They also called for the abandonment of marriage. And finally, there was an intense importance on pursuing perfection in every facet of life.
The rest of her views lined up mostly with her Quaker upbringing. She differed from the Quakers, who, though they supported gender equality, did not believe in forbidding sexuality within marriage.
Now, if you look at old pictures of Ann Lee, you will find this next bit about the story quite surprising. At least, I had a hard time unseeing it. She spent two decades in England developing this religious sect, which was known as the Shakers. They worshiped by ecstatic dancing or “shaking”, which resulted in them being dubbed the Shakers. But their dances were often considered erotic, and “unlike” the normal dancing in those days. They were moved by the Spirit, and expressed themselves with “whirling, collapsing, or jerking around.” Other critics of the day describe Ann Lee as a sexual sorceress: one source from 1795 portrays her “seductively stroking the arms and chests of audience members, drawing them into the dance with bewitching songs and chants.”
Again, if you see her picture, she simply doesn’t look the part.
Anyway, the Shakers were a peaceful people, and they had a lot of great ideas, with gender equality being at the forefront. As with any religion, it was met with violence, aggression, contempt. People, “Christian” people, looking onward, certain that the Shakers were not worshiping God in the right way. That kind of judgment still rings a bell to this day. But, the Shaker history is rich and interesting. They were non-political pacifists, who believed in the “Second Great Awakening.” This was a religious revival in which the body was understood to receive the spirit and “manifest grace in spontaneous action.” They danced. They spoke in tongues.
As I mentioned the Shakers were sometimes met by opposition. In some cases, there were incidents with violent mobs. In Shirley, Massachusetts, Ann Lee suffered violence at their hands. This happened to her more than once, actually. Because of these hardships “Mother Ann” became quite frail. She died at the young age of 48 (d. 1784).
Ann Lee preached to the public and led the Shaker church at a time when few women were religious leaders. She didn’t want to hurt anybody. She just wanted to be free from her own demons. Ann Lee. The Shaker.
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While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.
— Francis of Assisi
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The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.
— Henry David Thoreau
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Editing Note. The picture on the left of Ann Lee, appears to be a photograph. This would not be possible, as the first photograph was made in 1826. Ann Lee died in 1784. It could be a highly detailed sketch, but it looks like a photo to me.
