Rev. William Henry Jernagin
*Rev. William Henry Jernagin was born on this date in 1869. He was a Black Baptist pastor, American civil rights, and Pan-African activist.
William Henry Jernagin was born in Mashulaville, Mississippi, to Allen Fletcher Jernagin and Julia Ruth Walker. While his parents were mostly illiterate, they obtained a 40-acre farm to grow fruits and vegetables. His family worked primarily harvesting apples and peaches for Juke Jernagin, a former slave owner. In the breaks between the sowing and reaping seasons, he attended many public schools in the Noxubee and Lauderdale Counties, including Meridian Academy, Alcorn A&M College (now Alcorn State University), and Jackson College.
In addition, he attended American Correspondence School located in Danville, N.Y. After working in a school in Lauderdale County for five years, Jernagin preached at the Bush Fork Baptist Church of Mississippi. In 1892, two years after his pastoral licensing, the 23-year-old Jernagin was called to preach at several Mississippi Baptist Churches, including New Prospect Baptist Church in Meridian, Mississippi, Mount Moriah Baptist Church, and Scooba Baptist Church in Okolona, Mississippi. He served as Tabernacle's pastor for nine years.
He used his position in the community and personal influence within the National Baptist Convention (NBC) to engage several statewide and nationwide problems relating to segregation. With the aid of others, Jernagin formed the State Constitutional League of Oklahoma, whose expressed goal was to "secure the manhood rights of the race in concert with rights anticipated by other Americans." He testified in court advocating against the admission of the Oklahoma Territory and Indian territory into the United States, decrying the idea as a move that would further entrench Jim Crow laws.
During the years following the close of the First World War, his voice and influence rose as his positions within such organizations as the National Baptist Convention and the National Race Conference invited significant crossover between his promotion of Christian ideals and his fight for Black rights around the globe. As the National Race Conference President, Jernagin attended the Paris Peace Conference and the First Pan-African Congress (PAC) in 1919 to serve as a delegate for the NRC. Jernagin served as the NFCNC's president from 1938 to 1939, as the Council's chair from 1940 to 1945, and from 1952 to 1958.
In addition, he created the Washington Bureau Committee, a branch of the NFCNC that he later separated from the parent organization. Reverend William Jernagin died on February 18, 1958, while on vacation in Miami, Florida. Following his death, the Baltimore Afro-American reported: "A positive leader takes a firm stand and does not equivocate. For years, Jernagin has been recognized as the 'watchdog of the race' at the Nation's capital, both as a race leader and a denominational leader."
