Anne Lee, the 18th-century Christian leader who shocked America

In 1770, Lee was imprisoned for 30 days in Manchester on charges of disrupting another church service. While in prison, Lee had a premonition that celibacy was the key to purity and would become the cornerstone of the Shakers family. Four years later, Lee had another premonition that she would establish the sect in America. On May 10, 1774, Lee and a small group of followers, including her brother William Lee and her husband, sailed from Liverpool to New York. Two years later, the Shakers established a community in Niskayuna, near Albany.

Non-normative beliefs

When Lee and her supporters arrived in America, which was on the brink of Revolutionary War (1775-1783), their strong pacifist stance quickly aroused suspicion and controversy. Lee was accused of being a British spy, and was imprisoned when she refused to swear allegiance to New York State. Claiming that such an act went against her beliefs, Lee spent months in prison, until Governor George Clinton sought her release. Lee and other Shakers were also harassed and attacked by mobs because of their beliefs.

Lee died in 1784, 10 years after arriving in America. Some believe that the injuries she sustained as a result of the beating contributed to her death. However, long after her death, the influence of “Mother Anne,” as her followers called her, continued to grow. By 1850, there were approximately 5,000 Shakers in the United States.

Scientific

One of Lee’s defining traits was her belief in breaking norms in gender and social equality. “They were all seen as brothers and sisters to everyone,” says Elizabeth DeWolf, a professor of history at the University of New England and author of Shaken Faith: Women, Family, and Mary M. Dyer’s Anti-Shaker Campaign.