People, Locations, Episodes

George Freeman Bragg Jr., Minister born

*George Freeman Bragg, Jr. was born on this date in 1863. He was an African American minister and activist.

Lena Mason, Minister, and Poet born

Lena Mason, a Black minister and poet, was born on this date in 1864.

She was born in Quincy, Illinois of parents, Reida and Vaughn, who were stanch Christians. Young Mason became a Christian at a very early age, attending the Douglass High School of Hannibal, MO. She also attended Professor Knott’s School in Chicago. She married George Mason in 1883, had six children with only one daughter surviving to adulthood. Mason entered the ministry at the age of 23. During her first three years of ministry she preached to whites exclusively.

Adam Clayton Powell Sr., Clergyman born

Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., was born on this date in 1865. He was an African American clergyman and author.

Saint Philip A.M.E. Church in Georgia Opens

Saint Philip A.M.E. Church was established on this date in 1865, the oldest A.M.E. Church in the state of Georgia.

It was Organized by the Reverend A. L. Stanford in Savannah, Georgia, at the close of the Civil War. Later that year the Sunday school began. In September 1896, a storm demolished the building, and the church was a mass of ruins. During its interim, the Odd Fellow’s Hall was secured for worship. Saint Philip officers and members of Trinity Methodist Church moved to purchase property on West Broad and Charles Streets.

Zion Baptist Church (Denver) is Founded

*Zion Baptist Church was founded on this date in1865. It is one of the oldest African American churches west of the Mississippi.

Zion Baptist church was founded by a small group of people that came from other territories and towns to Colorado with limited resources, filled with determination. Rev. William Norrid was Zion’s first Pastor. In 1867 Zion purchased 2 lots located at 20th and Holladay (now Arapahoe) Streets and built their first house of worship.

Samuel Bacote, Minister born

*This date in 1866 is celebrated as the birth date of Rev. Samuel W. Bacote, a Black minister.  The son of former slaves, Bacote was born in Society Hill, South Carolina. His mother died when he was three months old, leaving him to be raised by his father and grandmother.  His father was literate and […]

James Westley Hurse, Minister born

*James Wesley Hurse was born on this date in 1866.  He was a Black minister. Born in Collierville, Tennessee, he spent his early years on a farm near Mason, Tennessee. As a teenager, he left home and worked at various odd jobs in Memphis before moving to Kansas City at 21. He enrolled at the […]

Nora A. Gordon, Teacher, and Missonary born

Nora Antonia Gordon was born on this date in 1866. She was an African American teacher and missionary.

She was born in Columbus, GA, and graduated from Spelman Seminary (now Spelman College) in 1888. Antonia attended a missionary school in London before arriving at the Palabala mission in the Congo a year later. Working with Lulu Fleming, she taught classes in the day school and the Sunday school. In 1891, she was transferred to Lukunga mission where she was in charge of the afternoon school and the printing office.

Pilgrim Baptist Church (St. Paul, MN) is Founded

On this date in 1866, Pilgrim Baptist Church in St. Paul, MN, was formally organized with its first service.

The First Congregational Church (Atlanta) is Founded

*On this date in 1867, the First Congregational Church of Atlanta held its first service. It came into existence as a “gathered church.”  At first, The American Missionary Association established the Storrs School in Atlanta. The school served as a center for social services, education, and worship for newly freed Blacks. Worshipers at the school’s […]

Abraham Lincoln DeMond, Minister and Activist born.

*Abraham Lincoln DeMond was born on this date in 1867. He was a Black minister and civil rights advocate in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Seneca, New York, DeMond was the son of Quam and Phebe (Darrow) DeMond. He was the first black graduate of the State Normal School at Cortland, […]

The Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church (Richmond, VA) is Founded

*The Sixth Mount Zion Baptist was founded on this date in 1867. John Jasper organized Sixth Mount Zion in Richmond, Virginia, he would go on to become one of the nations most well-known post Civil War Black ministers.

Henry H. Proctor, Author, and Minister born

*Henry Proctor was born on this date in 1868. He was an African American author, minister and lecturer.

Born near Fayetteville, Tenn., Henry Hugh Proctor was born to parents who were former slaves. Hannah Murray and Richard Proctor, a carpenter, he had four older siblings. His parents dug ditches and preached sermons to pay for his degree from Fisk University. After graduating in 1891, he received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Yale University in 1894 and was ordained into the Congregational ministry.

Wheat Street Baptist Church is Formed

*Wheat Street Baptist Church is celebrated on this date in 1869. This is a historic black Baptist church in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The church was founded by members of First Baptist Church in Atlanta (now known as Friendship Baptist Church) who wanted a place of worship closer to where they lived. […]

St. Mark A.M.E. Church (Milwaukee) is Formed

*On this date in 1869, we celebrate St. Mark A.M.E. Church, Milwaukee. This is the first Black church in Milwaukee, WI. In 1868, Ezekiel and Catherine Gillespie, Louis and Matilda Hughes, Charles and Sarah Dorsey, James Johnson, and Catherine Paget gathered to organize a Church of Allen in Milwaukee. On January 9, 1869, Rev. Theodore […]