People, Locations, Episodes

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.

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 […]

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.