The Rev. Richard Allen of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia had told Jarena Lee that she wouldn’t be allowed to preach as a minister of the church. After all, it was the early 1800s — before the Civil War and long before the civil rights movement. When Lee was in her 20s, the church had made no allowance for woman preachers. The Rev. Allen was sympathetic with her calling, but said no to her request.

Then in 1817, in an “ungovernable impulse,” Jarena Lee rose to her feet in church. Without seeking permission, she preached a sermon that so impressed Allen that he publicly apologized for having discouraged her earlier. Thus began the evangelical ministry of Jarena Lee, the first woman to preach in the A.M.E. denomination.

“For as unseemly as it may appear nowadays for a woman to preach,” wrote Lee, “it should be remembered that nothing is impossible with God.”

Her sentiment is one that runs through the history of black churches in this country, and the topic has been of increasing interest in Maine, particularly since the 1994 release of the Maine-made film, “Anchor of the Soul: A Documentary about Black History in Maine.”

Inspired by the information in that film, Judith Blanchard, administrative dean at Bangor Theological Seminary, pursued “Climbing Jacob’s Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities, 1740-1877,” a touring exhibition organized by the Smithsonian Institution’s Anacostia Museum in Washington, D.C.

On display through Feb. 2 at the seminary’s Wellman Commons, the exhibition chronicles the rise of black churches in major East Coast cities from the First Great Awakening, a series of religious revivals in the 18th century, to the end of Reconstruction (1867-1877). More than a dozen panels record and illustrate this period when black churches served not only as houses of worship but also as havens and centers for communal endeavors. Several free-standing units in the exhibition present biographies of important black church leaders, such as Nat Turner, Sojourner Truth and Daniel Payne, the founder of Wilberforce University in Ohio.

“The seminary would like to do its part to celebrate the diversity that’s in our midst,” said Blanchard. “We want people to have an awareness of the richness of the African-American community that can be brought to us as white people.”

Organizers at the seminary hope that local schools will take advantage of the exhibition, which has been on tour since 1988. It also will be featured during the seminary’s convocation Jan. 16 and 17.

Concurrent with the exhibition, the seminary is sponsoring “Being Black in New England: Celebrating a History of Faith and Work,” a daylong conference Feb. 2, about the place of religion in black American culture. “Anchor of the Soul” will be shown during the conference, and Jane Wilbur Sapp will present the concert “Singing in the African American Tradition.” The keynote speaker for the conference will be Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, an associate minister of the Union Baptist Church in Cambridge, Mass., an associate professor of African American Studies at Colby College.

“I’ve been interested for a long time in the process by which African Americans constructed a religious world view,” said Gilkes (pronounced Jilks), whose address is titled “A Shouting People: Culture, Imagination and the Birth of the African American Religious Experiences.”

To some, it may seem that an exhibition and conference on black American history may not have much pertinence in a predominantly white state such as Maine. But according to Gilkes, the topic is germane anywhere in the country.

“It’s important for everybody to learn our nation’s history,” said Gilkes. “Not only is it important that African Americans see themselves in the history record. But it’s important for all people in the society to see the true historical record.”

Developed and researched by historian Edward Smith at the Smithsonian, “Climbing Jacob’s Ladder” traces the roots of the unique form of black American Christianity to African practices, abolitionist movements, and the rise of black educational centers. Some of the religious leaders, such as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, are widely known. Others, such as Sister Mary Elizabeth Lange, who organized the first order of black Catholic nuns, have made distinguished but comparatively unknown contributions to American history.

Several banners hanging on a banister around the exhibition offer lines from Negro spirituals, which gave voice to a strong identification with the plight of the ancient Israelites and a belief that God would deliver freedom.

“Climbing Jacob’s Ladder” testifies to the trouble that black Americans have seen in trying to find a home in a hostile land. And it also shows the resourcefulness and hope embodied in a people whose experiences are crucial to a full understanding of American history.

For information on “Jacob’s Ladder” or the conference “Being Black in New England,” call 942-6781.