People, Locations, Episodes

John W. Bowen, Clergyman born

*John Wesley Bowen was born on this date in 1855.  He was a Black teacher and Methodist clergyman.  John Wesley Edward Bowen was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Edward Bowen and Rose Simon Bowen.  Edward Bowen, a carpenter, was originally from Maryland and later lived in Washington, D.C., but moved to New […]

The British Methodist Episcopal Church, a story

*The British Methodist Episcopal Church (BMEC) was organized on September 26, 1856. (BMEC) is a Methodist denomination based in Canada.             The American Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC) was formed in 1816 when several Black congregations joined under Richard Allen’s leadership. By the mid-1850s, it had seven conferences in the United States. AMEC preachers began to […]

William Adger, Minister born

*The birth of William Adger in 1856 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American minister.

James Solomon Russell, Deacon, and Administrator born

*James Solomon Russell was born on this date in 1857. He was a Black teacher, minister, and administrator. James Russell was born to Araminta, an enslaved woman on the Hendrick plantation in Mecklenburg County, VA. His enslaved father, Solomon Russell, worked on the Russell plantation in Warren County, North Carolina. After the Union victory in […]

Henry B. Delany, North Carolina Bishop born

*Henry Delany was born on this date in 1858. He was an African American minister and bishop.

Born in Saint Mary’s, Georgia, Both of his parents were slaves. His father, Thomas Delany was a ship and house carpenter, and his mother Sarah, a house servant.  Delany grew up in Fernandina, Florida where he received his earliest formal education.  He and his brothers also learned brick laying and plastering trades from their father.  In 1881 Henry Beard Delany entered Saint Augustine’s School in Raleigh, North Carolina where he studied theology. 

Alexander Walters, Bishop and Activist born

*Alexander Walters was born on this date in 1858.  He was a Black clergyman and civil rights leader.   Walters was born in Bardstown, Kentucky, and was the oldest son of Henry and Harriet Walters. He was educated at a private school taught by several teachers. In 1871, he moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he worked as a waiter […]

The First AME Church (Oakland, CA) Opens

*On this date in 1858, the founding of the First African Methodist Episcopal (FAME) Church of Oakland, California, is celebrated.  This house of worship emerged in the eastern part of the Bay Area, founded by members of the Black community in Oakland at the time, but it wasn’t until 1863 that they had a physical […]

Katherine Drexel, Catholic Educator born

*Katharine Drexel was born on this date in 1858.  She was a white-American heiress, philanthropist, catholic sister, and educator.   Katharine Mary Drexel was born Catherine Mary Drexel in Philadelphia, the second child of investment bankers Francis Anthony Drexel and Hannah Langstroth.  Her mother died five weeks after her baby’s birth. For two years, their […]

Joseph A. Booker, Minister born

*Joseph Booker was born on this date 1859. He was a Black editor, educator, minister and community leader.

The Foster AME Church is Founded

*The founding of Foster Memorial AME Zion Church in 1860 is celebrated on this date.

Ernest A. Lyon, Minister, and Diplomat born

*Ernest Lyon was born on this date in 1860. He was a Black minister, educator, and diplomat. Ernest A. Lyon was born on the coast of Belize, British Honduras, to Emmanuel Lyon and Ann F. Bending. As a child, Lyon attended an English school in Belize. His father died when he was young; Lyon “became a Christian […]

LuLu Fleming, Medical Missionary born

*Louise Cecelia Fleming was born on this date in 1862. She was a Black medical missionary.

From Hibernia Clay County, Florida she was born a slave and was nicknamed LuLu. She attended Shaw University, graduating as class valedictorian in1885. Fleming was the first African American woman to be commissioned for work in Africa by the Woman’s American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society. Two years later Fleming left America, stopped in Europe and then began working as a missionary for five years in Palabala, Congo (now Zaire).

The First Baptist Church of Georgetown is Founded

The First Baptist Church of Georgetown was founded on this date in 1862. It is one of the oldest Black Baptist churches in the Washington, D. C. area.

Preacher Collins Williams donated land at 29th and O streets, NW, to build a small church known as “The Ark.” Williams and his wife Betsey had led religious meetings in Georgetown in private residences.

John E. Ford, Minister born

*John E. Ford was born on this date in 1862. He was a Black minister and businessman.

From Owensboro, KY John Elijah Ford was the eldest of fifteen children of Isom and Anne Helm Ford. Nine of his siblings died at birth or childhood diseases and he was the only one born in Kentucky. His family moved to Chicago when he was a child where he grew up near 33rd and Dearborn Street. His brothers and sister were, Gerogie, Dotie, Lola, Vertel (Bud) and Milton. Ford graduated from high school as the only black in his class and was proficent in Latin with good grades.

A. D. Williams, Minister born

*On this date, in 1863, A. D. Williams was born.  He was a Black minister and civil rights, activist.  From Greene County, Georgia, Adam Daniel Williams was the son of a slave preacher Willis and his wife, Lucretia Williams. He celebrated his birthday the day after the effective date of the Emancipation Proclamation. He spent […]