John Jea

Little is known about John Jea's life apart from what he wrote in his autobiography, The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, the African Preacher (1811). Jea stated that he was born in Africa in 1773 near Calabar in the Bight of Biafra, and that he and his parents, Hambleton Robert Jea and Margaret Jea, and siblings were kidnapped by slave traders and sold into slavery in New York City when he was two and a half years old. Some historians have expressed doubts over these claims (the likelihood of an entire African family managing to survive capture and the high death rate of the Middle Passage, then to be sold collectively to a single owner, is extremely low), and suggested that they may have been fabricated or embellished. His master initially sent him to church services as a punishment, but Jea became a devout Christian and was baptized in the 1780s. During Jea's teenage years when he had acquired a new passion for Christianity, his master told him that enslaved people have no souls and that he would die "like the beasts that perish," although he was "treated worse than a beast of burden." However, Jea refuted his master's claim by referencing the Bible his master interpreted for his usage. Alongside renouncement of his master's claims, Jea thanked God for his meals, despite his master's attempt of proclaiming himself as God and be the one thanked. Moreover, Jea declared that he will be guided by none other than God. == Freedom ==

After passing through a series of slave owners, Jea convinced the final one that his recalcitrance as a slave merited manumission. He was freed on the basis of being a faithful, baptized Christian though his enslaver initially refused to heed to the court order. Alongside the fear of Jea teaching other enslaved people about Christianity, came the threat of "[sharing] his newfound literacy with fellow [enslaved people]," giving reason to his emancipation. Through the true reason behind his emancipation, Jea demonstrated how literacy is a key component to freedom. == Later life and travels ==

Jea tried persuading his family to seek freedom much like how he sought his. However, he was unable to successfully accomplish this task and instead gave ministries to an enslaved person and recounted his tale of Christianity to freedom, which resulted in the enslaved person obtaining his freedom much like Jea. Jea saw this as a sign from God to continue being a minister. He then married a Maltese woman named Charity who later died. Jea initially made use of a methodist style of preaching during his itinerancy. Jea was wary of including antislavery sentiments for fear of the violence that might be invoked from pro-slavery lobbyists. He then worked as a cook on ships traveling around North America, the East and West Indies, South America, and Ireland. He decided against working on a US warship and preaching the gospel there because it clashes with his Christian ideologies. Jea traveled around northern France for four years before his eventual release at the close of the Napoleonic Wars. From Hodges' knowledge, Jea failed to compromise to participating in the war, which he described as sinful, and returned to England where he settled in Portsea around 1815. Later, Jea married his fourth wife Jemima Davis in 1816 and had a child named Hephazabah, who was later baptized in an Anglican chapel. Hanley speculates that Jea had his daughter baptized in an Anglican chapel, despite the numerous Methodist churches nearby, because he was in a rush to attend the Grand-Parade’ located in St. Helier, Jersey. Not much is known about his death. ==Published works==

Jea was one of the first African-American poets to have written an autobiography. His autobiography was written in Portsea between 1815 and 1816, but was largely unknown until it was rediscovered in 1983. Religious themes dominate Jea's autobiography. Indeed, Jea describes his acquisition of literacy as the result of a miraculous visit from an angel, who teaches him to read the Gospel of John. But political themes are mixed together with these religious aspects, and the work consistently argues that slavery is a fundamental injustice in need of abolition. Gates calls Jea's work "the last of the great black ‘sacred’ slave autobiographies." Throughout his narrative, hymns, and sermons Jea made allusions to Lazarus. Before one of Jea's congregations, an English preacher-man aimed to insult Jea by comparing him to Lazarus, specifically the biblical figures' poor conditions prior to his death. Pierce relates Lazarus's death to Jea's former condition of being "dead in his sins." Parallels between Lazarus, a poor man unbeknown by much of society, and Jea, who was formerly enslaved and resentful of Christianity, contributed to his own understanding that even the most abject can gain passage to "salvation and eternal life" by God. On one of Jea's trips across the Atlantic ocean, there came a turbulent storm that led to two men being struck to death by lightning. Jea described their deaths as a result of their blasphemy. They ridiculed Jea for his praying and threatened to throw him overboard. As both were abused by their shipmates and prayed for calmer waters, parallels were drawn between Jea and Jonah from the Bible. However, a sharp contrast between the two is that Jonah tried to disobey God, whereas Jea obeyed Him and sought to preach in England as directed. In the same event, Pierce made parallels between Elisha and Jea because of how those around them faced God's punishment for their taunts on the works of Christ. In Elisha's story, who is known to be a prophet of God, he was mocked for his baldness, and subsequently, those forty-two children who mocked him were mauled by two bears. Similarly, the two shipmates who mocked Jea for praying were promptly sent to their deaths. After Jea's conversion, his narrative shifts from a view of his everyday life to a compilation of "mini-sermons" that he connects with himself, and calls this new semantic/syntax Canaan. At the end of his narrative, Jea stated that he did not write this narrative, however, he made sure that it accurately depicted his life and allowed no alterations by the printers. ==References==