*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. […]
learn moreDr. Mary H. Young Is an author, minister, and administrator. In this segment, she comments on her reasons for advising youth to consider a ministry career.
learn more*Old Bluff Church held its first service on this date in 1758. Old Bluff Presbyterian Church is a historic Black Presbyterian church located near Wade, Cumberland County, North Carolina. The church congregation was founded during the antebellum era of the American south. Later its pastor was the Rev. John McLeod, who came from the Isle of Skye, […]
learn more*Henry Lyons was born on this date in 1942. He is a Black minister and former president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. Henry J. Lyons was from Tampa, Florida, raised by his grandfather, a Deacon named Booker T. Lyons. His father, who was only 16 when Henry was born, played a minimal role […]
learn more*The Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME.) Church was founded on this date in 1870. They are a historically black denomination within the broader context of Wesleyan Methodism. The CME Church was organized in Jackson, Tennessee, by 41 former slave members with the full support of their white sponsors in their former Methodist Episcopal Church, South, who met to […]
learn more*Israel Dresner was born on this date in 1929. He was a white Jewish-American Reform rabbi and global activist. Israel Seymour Dresner was born on the Lower East Side of New York City. He was raised in Brooklyn, attending an Orthodox yeshiva (day school). At the age of 13, he joined Habonim Dror, a Labor […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*The Black Hebrew Israelites were affirmed on this date in 1886. Also called Hebrew Israelites, Black Hebrews, Black Israelites, and African Hebrew Israelites are groups of African Americans who believe that they are the descendants of the ancient Israelites. Black Hebrew Israelites are not associated with the mainstream Jewish community, and they do not meet the standards […]
learn more*Leonard Morse was born on this date in 1891. He was a Black minister and a founding member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. From Boston, MA., Leonard F. Morse was the son of a distinguished New England Family, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Morse of Boston, Massachusetts. Trained in the elementary and secondary schools of […]
learn more*Mathilda Beasley was born on this date in 1832. She was a Black teacher, seamstress, and nun. Mathilda Taylor was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on November 14, 1832. She was baptized as a Catholic in 1869, possibly in preparation for her marriage to Abraham Beasley, a wealthy free Black restaurant owner in Savannah, who […]
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