Stewart was the first American woman to speak to a mixed audience of men, women, whites and blacks (termed a "promiscuous" audience during the early 19th century). The first African-American woman to lecture about women's rights — Stewart focused particularly on the rights of black women — religion, and social justice among black people. She was someone who could be called a Matronist: one of the matriarchs of black feminist thought during the Jim Crow era. She also became the first African-American woman to make public anti-slavery speeches. One of the first African-American women to make public lectures for which there are still surviving copies, Stewart referred to her public lectures as "speeches" and not "sermons", despite their religious tone and frequent Biblical quotes. African-American women preachers of the era, such as Jarena Lee, Julia Foote and Amanda Berry Smith, undoubtedly influenced Stewart, and Sojourner Truth later used a similar style in her public lectures. Stewart delivered her speeches in Boston, to organizations including the African-American Female Intelligence Society.