According to Jualynne E. Dodson's introduction to the 1988 edition of Amanda Smith's An Autobiography: The Story of the Lord's Dealings with Mrs. Amanda Smith the Colored Evangelist (1893), "Amanda Berry Smith personified the nineteenth-century black preaching woman." Smith's life is best understood within the context of black women's involvement in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, which from its inception prohibited the licensing and ordination of women preachers. Despite her lack of any official position, Smith attained prominence by preaching to AME congregations and other religious groups. Although there were other such women evangelists, Smith, Jarena Lee, Rebecca Stewart, and Zilpha Elaw were the only ones to leave autobiographical accounts of their religious endeavors. These women refused to be silent, addressing through their preaching racial uplift ideologies as well as issues of gender.

Amanda Berry was born 23 January 1837 in Long Green, Maryland, to Samuel Berry, slave of Darby Insor...