Rebecca Protten

Rebecca Freundlich Protten, also Shelly (1718–1780) was a Caribbean Moravian evangelist and pioneer missionary who proselytized the Gospel to enslaved Virgin Islanders of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. A "mulatress" and a former enslaved Antiguan, Antigua and Barbuda, she pioneered Christian missions in the Atlantic World in the 1700s. Scholars have described her as the "Mother of Modern Missions" as her life's work bridged Christianity in the West Indies, in Europe and in West Africa, all geographic regions she lived in.