People, Locations, Episodes

John Newton, Slave Trader, and Clergyman born

*John Newton was born on this date in 1725.  He was a white-English slave trader and Anglican clergyman.   John Newton was born in Wapping, London, the son of John Newton, the Elder, a shipmaster in the Mediterranean service, and Elizabeth (née Scatliff). Elizabeth was the only daughter of Simon Scatliff, an instrument maker from […]

Andrew Bryan, Minister born

*The birth of Andrew Bryan is celebrated on this date in 1737.  He was a Black minister and Church administrator.  Andrew Bryan was born in the small town of Goose Creek, South Carolina. Bryan was born on a plantation called Brampton, owned by Jonathan Bryan. Brampton was known as a productive rice plantation. His father […]

Absalom Jones, Minister born

On this date, we mark the birth of Absalom Jones in 1746, a Black minister and abolitionist.

A house slave from Delaware, Jones taught himself to read out of the New Testament and other books. At the age of 16, he was sold to a store owner in Philadelphia, and he was soon attending a night school for blacks operated by Quakers. In 1766, he married another slave and purchased her freedom with his earnings, buying his own freedom in 1784.

James Varick, Bishop born

The birth of James Varick in 1750 is celebrated on this date. He was the first Black Methodist Episcopal Zion Bishop in America.

Black Harry Hosier, Minister, and Orator born

The birth of Harry Hosier in 1750 is celebrated on this date. He was a renowned Black preacher and an evangelist.

George Leile, Minister born

*The birth of George Leile is celebrated on this date in 1750. He was a Black minister. Named after his master, he was born a slave on the plantation of Mr. Leile in the State of Virginia. Early in his life, speculators brought him to Georgia and sold him to Henry Sharpe of Kiokee, GA, […]

George Liele, Pastor born

*The birth of George Liele is celebrated on this date in 1752.  He was a Black pastor. George Liele was born into slavery in Virginia and taken to Georgia.  As an adult, he was converted by Rev. Matthew Moore of Burke County, Georgia, in 1777. He continued to worship in Moore’s white church for four years until Savannah […]

Lemuel Haynes, Minister born

On this date Lemuel Haynes was born in 1753. He was a Black minister.

A sympathetic white Evangelical family raised this abandoned mixed child as an indentured servant in West Hartford, Connecticut. Haynes was a soldier in the Continental Army who believed that the American Revolution should have expanded to free slaves. He gives details on this in 1776 with an essay Liberty Further Extended. This pioneering essay was unknown and unpublished until 1983. Haynes was the pastor of several White churches, principally in Rutland, Vermont.

Old Bluff Church (North Carolina) Holds Its First Service

*Old Bluff Church held its first service on this date in 1758. Old Bluff Presbyterian Church is a historic church 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, Scotland, […]

The Black Church In America, a story

*This dates Registry from 1758, briefly writes about the history of the Black Church in America. This institution which was the first source of land ownership for slaves in America (with the human character of black people) is viewed as the reason and savior of oppressed African people in the United States.

Richard Allen, Bishop, and AME Leader born

*On this date in 1760, Richard Allen was born in Philadelphia. He was a Black religious leader, founder and first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.

Ethiopian Jews, Rich Past, Rich Future

*This date, The Registry honors Ethiopian Jews. Ethiopian Jews or Beta Israel are a Black African ethnic group from northwestern Ethiopia who practice Judaism.

Morris Brown, Abolitionist, and Minister born

*On this date in 1770, Morris Brown was born.  He was a Black minister and abolitionist.    Born to parents who were free people of color in Charleston, South Carolina, Brown received no formal education, and he was taught skills at home. He and his family were successful and considered part of the city’s free Black elite. Its large Black population was […]

Thomas Paul, Minister, born

*Thomas Paul was born on this date in 1773. He was a Black Baptist minister. Paul was born in Exeter in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. He attended the Free Will Society Academy with two of his brothers. He then pursued the Hollis, New Hampshire, ministry at the Free Will Baptist Church. He was baptized and […]

The First African Baptist Church, Savanah, Georgia is Founded

The First African Baptist Church of Savannah, GA., one of the oldest Black churches in North America, began on this date in 1777.