Who Was the Public Universal Friend?

During Pride Month in June, the Museum highlights multiple stories of people who challenged norms of gender and identity in the Revolutionary era. One such person was the Public Universal Friend, an 18th-century religious leader who identified as neither male nor female. Though the term "nonbinary" did not exist until long after the Friend was alive, their insistence on living outside of gender norms makes them a fascinating figure to explore.

The Museum spoke to Meg Bowersox, Manager of Gallery Interpretation, to learn more about the Public Universal Friend and the walking tour and Discovery Cart used to share their story with our visitors. 

Museum of the American Revolution: Who was the Public Universal Friend? 
Meg Bowersox: The Public Universal Friend was a preacher during the Revolutionary War. In 1776, when they're 24 years old, they fall ill and become almost comatose, if you will. Very high fevers, so not able to really be up and active, to the point of almost death, when they have this revelation that their soul goes up to heaven and what comes back down is a divine spirit, and they are essentially empowered to preach the word of God, and call themselves Public Universal Friend or The Friend, as they're also referred to. 

MoAR: Why are they special and worthy of noting during Pride Month? 
MB: I think the Public Universal Friend is the closest hard evidence we have to someone in the 18th century who identified in such a way as being genderless. They considered themselves to be of no gender. They no longer referred to the birth name that was given to them, which was Jemima Wilkinson. And the disciples or the followers (they're called disciples by The Friend), when asked about who the prophet is, denied the dead name and referred to them at a genderless prophet, the Public Universal Friend. So, while other people's stories like Baron Von Stueben and Deborah Sampson have more ambiguity, I'd say this is the closest to someone identifying in the way nonbinary people do today.

MoAR: We have lots of different ways in the Museum that we tell people's stories. Why a walking tour? Why is this the right way to tell the story of the Public Universal Friend? 
MB: Most of the objects related to the Public Universal Friend still survive. However, they are located quite a way from Philadelphia in Yates County, New York. So, as a museum that wants to tell this story but may not have physical objects to tie to it, we used the walking tour to tell their Philadelphia story. The walking tour used sites like Elfreth’s Alley, The Betsy Ross House, and the Free Quaker Meetinghouse to highlight moments from the Public Universal Friend’s life.  To be able to bring the context of the Universal Friend story outside of the Museum's four walls into the local neighborhood is also something that is really inspiring, and to have all these buildings or have all these places where the Friend was still around, you know, why not go there? 

MoAR: Can you tell us about the Discovery Cart? 
MB: Our Discovery Carts in a hands-on learning opportunity that uses replica handling objects and primary source materials to engage with visitors and highlight a specific theme or person of the Revolutionary era. The Public Universal Friend cart focuses on their mission, in terms of as a prophet and as a divine spirit, as well as their time in Philadelphia. It also talks about how people perceive the Friend, how newspapers in Philadelphia specifically discussed the Friend. So, for example, we have an exact reproduction of the Universal Friend's hat that exists in Yates County, New York. We also have a reproduction of a black silk banyan, which is a garment that is similar to the one in the portrait of the Public Universal Friend. The cart also contains newspaper clippings, a conch shell, and other reproduction garments to highlight the story of the Public Universal Friend. 

MoAR: Why is it important to tell stories like this? 
MB: When we think of the Revolutionary War or the 18th century, most of us picture George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abigail Adams. But what about the everyday people who lived there, who experienced this war, who we don't know their stories and their experiences? The Friend is such an interesting person at this time because it's challenging what we today think of the norm of the 18th century, right, of how people were, how they lived their lives. And it totally spins us on our head. And I think it's a revolutionary story within itself, because the Revolution allowed an opportunity for someone to be able to be this divine spirit in a time when things were changing, fast-paced, in terms of the way people were thinking about religion, politics, and personal identity. The Revolution provided a gateway for them to express themselves freely, which is pretty cool. 

MoAR: Anything else we should know?
MB: The story of the Public Universal Friends is truly unique and rarely known. If you come to the Musuem, you will learn so much more. I've been thinking about this idea of the word "revolutionary," and what does that mean? For me, it’s the war of American Revolution, it’s people of African descent fighting for freedom, it’s women voting in New Jersey from 1776-1807. It cannot be contained in one moment or one feeling. But a whole movement that still today changes people's hearts, minds, and surprises us all. That's revolutionary. To me, I think it's really cool that the Revolution provided those new opportunities for individuals like the Universal Friend to explore who they were and their identities and what they were fighting for. The Friend also has this quote, when they're asked, basically about who they were and their gender that stated, "I am that I am."