People, Locations, Episodes

William J. Simmons, Educator, and Minister born

*William J. Simmons was born on this date in 1849. He was an educator, minister, and college administrator. William J. Simmons was born a slave in Charleston, South Carolina, to Edward and Esther Simmons. While William was young, his mother fled slavery with her three children, William and his two sisters, Emeline and Anna. They […]

St. Andrews AME Church (Sacramento), is Founded

This date in 1850 marks the founding of St. Andrews African Methodist Episcopal (A. M. E.) Church of Sacramento, California.

William Harrison Heard, Politician and Clergyman born

*William H. Heard was born on this date in 1850.  He was a Black clergyman and politician.  William Henry (Harrison) Heard was born a slave in Elbert County, Georgia, some three miles from the small settlement of Longstreet. His father, George, was a blacksmith and later a wheelwright and carpenter of mixed ethnicity. George was the son of an […]

Francis J. Grimke, Minister, and Author born

On this date in 1850, Francis James Grimke was born. He was a Black minister and author.

He was born in Cane Acres, a rice plantation near Charleston, SC, the son of a wealthy white man and Nancy Weston, a black slave. After his father died and property rights on them were exercised by his half-brother Montague, Grimke ran away from home and joined the Confederate Army as an officer’s valet. He served there until Emancipation. After the Civil War his aunts Angela and Sarah Moore Grimke acknowledged their kinship and helped in his education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.

Joseph Endom Jones, Writer, and Professor born

*Joseph E. Jones was born on this date in 1850.  He was a Black Baptist minister, writer, and professor.   Joseph Endom Jones was born a slave in Lynchburg, Virginia. At the age of six, he started to work at a tobacco factory. Jones’s mother believed that the end of slavery was near and that her boy should learn to read and […]

Albery Whitman, Poet, and Orator born

*Albery Whitman was born on this date in 1851.  He was a Black poet, minister, and orator.   Albery Allison Whitman was born into slavery at a farm near Munfordville, Kentucky. After years as a manual laborer, working at a plow shop, on railroad construction, and as a teacher, Whitman attended Wilberforce University in 1870. […]

Charles A. Tindley, Minister born

Charles Albert Tindley was born on this date in 1851. He was a Black Methodist Episcopal minister and lyricist.

Lucy Farrow, Pastor born

*The birth of Lucy Farrow is celebrated on this date in 1851.  She was a Black Holiness pastor who was instrumental in the early foundations of Pentecostalism.   Lucy F. Farrow was born into slavery in Norfolk, Virginia.   She was the niece of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass.  In 1905, she worked for Charles Fox Parham […]

The First A.M.E. Zion Church (San Francisco) is Founded

*On this date, in 1852, The First African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church of San Francisco was founded. Started by the Reverend John Jamison Moore, he pastored the church and participated extensively in civic affairs. The First Church home was on Stockton Street (between Broadway and Pacific). The church remained at this location for six years. […]

The Third Baptist Church of San Francisco is Founded

*On this date in 1852, we celebrate the founding of the Third Baptist Church in San Francisco.   This black church was founded in the home of William and Eliza Davis on Kearny Street.  It was called the First Colored Baptist Church of San Francisco.  With the Davis, there were seven other blacks and a band […]

Olive Chapel A.M.E. Church is Founded

*Olive Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church is celebrated on this date in 1853. The Reverend Jordan Winston Early founded the congregation. Services began in a private home. Also known as Olive Chapel AME Church, it is a historic church at 309 S. Harrison Avenue in Kirkwood, Missouri. It is the oldest Protestant church in Kirkwood. […]

Octavia Rogers Albert, Writer, and Teacher born

The birth of Octavia V. Rogers Albert in 1853 is celebrated on this date. She was a Black teacher and writer.

Joseph Price, Minister, and Scholar born

*Joseph Charles Price was born on this date in 1854. He was a Black scholar and minister.

From Elizabeth City, NC, he graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania as valedictorian of the Class of 1879, and completed the three-year theological course in two years. Bishop James Walker Hood named Price to the A.M.E. Zion Church’s delegation to the 1881 Ecumenical Methodist Conference, which met in the City Road Chapel, London. Price was persuaded to remain in England and speak on behalf of the fledgling school the denomination through the General Conference.

Augustus Tolton, Priest born

Augustus Tolton was born on this date in 1854. He was one America’s first Black priest.

The First Black Catholic Priest is Ordained

On this date in 1854, James Augustine Healy was ordained in Paris, France, thus becoming the first Black priest in the Catholic Church.

Two brothers followed him and all three had to study abroad. James Healy became the first Black bishop of Portland, ME., in 1875. Alexander Sherwood was ordained for the diocese of Massachusetts. Patrick Frances obtained his PH.D (the first Black) from Louvian University, Belgium and became the first Black president of Georgetown University, Washington D.C.