Martin Luther King Jr., 1929 –1968

Martin Luther King Jr., 1929 –1968

Minister & Civil Rights Leader

Martin Luther King Jr was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1929 as Michael King, but in 1935 his father changed both of their names to Martin Luther to honor the German Protestant Reformer. The precocious Martin skipped two grades, and by age 15, had passed the entrance exam to the predominantly black Morehouse College. There King felt drawn into pastoral ministry: "My call to the ministry was not a miraculous or supernatural something," he said. "On the contrary it was an inner urge calling me to serve humanity."

Martin Luther King began his role in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The movement produced scores of men and women who risked their lives to secure a more just and inclusive society, but the name Martin Luther King, Jr., stands out among them all. As historian Mark Noll put it, "He was beyond question the most important Christian voice in the most important social protest movement after World War II."

"We must keep God in the forefront. Let us be Christian in all our actions. Love is one of the pinnacle parts of the Christian faith. There is another side called justice, and justice is really love in calculation." – Martin Luther King Jr.

Source: https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-65/martin-luther-king-jr.html

Mattie Poole, 1903–1968

Mattie Poole, 1903–1968

Evangelist, Minister

With the mantra: "Why Should You Suffer When Others are Being Healed? Why Should You Die Before Your Time?", Mattie Poole had one of the most storied evangelistic and healing ministries in apostolic Pentecostal history.

Poole was born to a spiritual family in Memphis, Tennessee, and grew up in Chicago. When she was seventeen, she was baptized in water and the Holy Spirit, and at the age of eighteen, she became active in ministry alongside her husband, Charles. In addition to working as a piano teacher and studying music at the Chicago Musical College and Conservatory, Poole would spend four hours in prayer each day.

In 1932, Mattie’s husband, Charles, founded Bethlehem Tabernacle as a mission in Chicago’s west side area. Six years later, Mattie joined him in the ministry as associate pastor. After the church relocated in 1944, remarkable things began to take place within Mattie’s ministry.

Many people who attended services at Bethlehem Tabernacle were supernaturally healed of chronic conditions, including blindness, deafness, and barrenness. One source even claims that the dead were raised in Mattie’s services. Neck braces, walkers, wheelchairs, and crutches adorned the walls of her church—all trophies of people who had been healed there. Visitors traveled great distances to worship the Lord, experience healing, and hear Mattie’s preaching.

Mattie and Charles began broadcasting the services by radio, with their messages focusing largely on holiness and healing. At its height, their program reached an international audience. A number of audio clips have been preserved and are now available online.

By the time Mattie passed away in September 1968, she had helped plant churches and Bible schools across the U.S., and in Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Jamaica.  Bethlehem Healing Temple, the church she and Charles pastored in Chicago, continues to this day. Mattie left a mark on the world as a servant of God who moved in remarkable gifts of healing and deliverance.

“Sometimes ambulances would bring people to Bethlehem Healing Temple and Mother Mattie would tell them, ‘You can go ahead and leave. They won’t need you once the service is over.’” – William Ellis, a bishop in the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World

Eliza Davis George, 1879 – 1980

Eliza Davis George, 1879 – 1980

Missionary, Educator, and Church Planter

Eliza Davis George was born in Texas to two formerly enslaved parents. Though brought up in a Baptist home, it wasn’t until Eliza was 16 years old that she accepted Jesus as her Lord.

While studying to become a teacher at Central Texas College, Eliza heard God call her to become a missionary to Africa after attending a prayer meeting for the nations. Despite the resistance from the missions board for a young African American woman to become a missionary, Eliza held tight to her calling and cultivated a deep life of prayer, often interceding all night for the unsaved in Africa, until she boarded a ship that took her to Liberia.

Eliza and another missionary opened up a school in central Liberia, where there were few schools, churches, or missionaries, called the Bible Industrial Academy. Within two years they had over 50 students and saw over 1,000 people accept Jesus as their savior.

Eliza based her ministry on the discipleship model - she would teach, train, and deploy people to go and do the same in other villages. By the 1960s, almost 50 years after arriving in Africa, the Eliza Davis George Baptist Association had planted twenty-seven churches in Liberia.

Eliza returned to Texas at the age of 99 and passed away a year later, leaving behind a legacy that could only be possible by a person willing to count the cost and whole-heartedly follow Jesus to save the lost.

“My African brother is calling me; Hark! Hark! I hear his voice . . . Would you say stay when God said go?” – Eliza Davis George

Mary McLeod Bethune, 1875 – 1955

Mary McLeod Bethune, 1875 – 1955

Minister, Educator, Activist

Mary McLeod Bethune was born into a Christian home within in the farming community of Mayesville, South Carolina, on July 10, 1875. Her parents were former slaves and most of her 16 siblings were also born into slavery.  

From an early age, Bethune was motivated to learn as much as possible out of the belief that the difference between white children and black children was whether or not they could read.  Bethune eventually attended college with the hope of becoming a Missionary in Africa. 

Though she did not end on the mission field, she became arguably the most powerful African American person in America between the first half of the twentieth century, which Bethune credits to her Christian faith. 

Mary McLeod Bethune was the first African American female to establish a four-year institution of higher learning in the world, the Bethune-Cookman College. She was the first African American female to found a national organization to lobby the federal government, the National Council of Negro Women. And she was the first African American hold a high-ranking federal appointment under the Roosevelt presidency. 

And before her death in 1955, Bethune served as an advisor to three US presidents (Hoover, Roosevelt, and Truman) and was the recipient of many of the nation’s most prestigious awards. 

“We send a cry of Thanksgiving for people of all races, creeds, classes, and colors the world over, and pray that through the instrumentality of our lives the spirit of peace, joy, fellowship, and brotherhood shall circle the world. We know that this world is filled with discordant notes, but help us, Father, to so unite our efforts that we may all join in one harmonious symphony for peace and brotherhood, justice, and equality of opportunity for all men.”  – Mary McLeod Bethune

William Seymour, 1870–1922

William Seymour, 1870–1922

Catalyst of the Pentecostal Movement

William Joseph Seymour was the second of eight children born to former slaves Simon and Phyllis Seymour in Centerville, Louisiana, on May 2, 1870.

After moving from Louisiana, William Seymour joined the "reformation" Church of God where he became steeped in Holiness theology, which taught second blessing, entire sanctification, divine healing, premillennialism, and the promise of a worldwide Holy Spirit revival before the rapture.

In 1906, Seymour moved to Los Angeles, California, where he preached the Pentecostal message and sparked the Azusa Street Revival. The revival drew large crowds of believers as well as media coverage that focused on the controversial practices as well as the racially integrated worship services, which violated the racial norms of the time. This movement went on impact 631 million people around the world.

William Seymour has been described as being the "greatest direct influence on American religious history" and he was undoubtably a huge influence on the contemporary church of today.

William Seymour passed away in Los Angeles in 1922, his last words being: “I love my Jesus so.”

“I can say, through the power of the Spirit, that wherever God can get a people that will come together in one accord and one mind in the Word of God, the baptism of the Holy Ghost will fall upon them, like as at Cornelius’ house.” – William Seymour

George Washington Carver, 1864–1943

George Washington Carver, 1864 – 1943

Father of Modern Agriculture

“When I was young, I said to God, God, tell me the mystery of the universe. But God answered, that knowledge is for me alone. So I said, God, tell me the mystery of the peanut. Then God said, well, George, that’s more nearly your size.” — George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver was born into slavery during the Civil War. He worked to put himself through school, eventually earning a Masters Degree from Iowa State in Agriculture. He then became a professor at the Tuskegee Institute where he made incredible discoveries and became the most prominent black scientist of the early 20th century.

Carver had a deep Christian faith and contributed his ideas to his communion with God stating that his faith in Jesus was the only mechanism by which he could effectively pursue and perform the art of science. “Human need is really a great spiritual vacuum which God seeks to fill … With one hand in the hand of a fellow man in need and the other in the hand of Christ, He could get across the vacuum … Then the passage, ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me,’ came to have real meaning.”

Carver is credited with discovering hundreds of uses for the peanut (including peanut butter and 300 other uses), soybean, sweet potato (200+ uses), pecan, cowpea, wild plum, and okra, which helped to revolutionize the South’s economy.

"Never since have I been without this consciousness of the Creator speaking to me….The out of doors has been to me more and more a great cathedral in which God could be continuously spoken to and heard from."

Nick Chiles, 195?–1929

Nick Chiles, 195?–1929

Editor, Civil-Rights Activist

Nick Chiles, born in South Carolina, was an entrepreneur, activist, politician, and journalist who moved Topeka, Kansas, sometime in the 1880s, until his death in 1929. While in Topeka, Chiles launched the Topeka Plaindealer, the most prominent Western black newspaper in the early 20th century. He used his newspaper not only as a platform to direct news to the African American community, but also to educate, inform, and appeal to white Christians to become anti-racist:

“the Protestant church in America, except in a few rare individual instances, seems to be deaf to our appeals and seems inclined to remain silent if not actually acquiescent in the terrible outrages upon us.”

Chiles would regularly correspond with powerful Christian leaders (including the pope) and political figures (including the president, senators and governors) and appeal to their Christian-faith in order to provoke repentance and action. Not only was Chiles interested in advancing the rights and equality for African American citizens, but he was also concerned about the fate of the white Christian church as so many individuals were unrepentant for their belief in white supremacy.

Though Chiles fought hard to see policy and legislation change, he believed that racism was, at its core, a spiritual problem that would not be solved until the consciences of white Christians could be awakened.

“It is your Christian duty to help undo the great injustice that has been perpetrated upon them, if this is accomplished you will merit the prayers of thousands, for there are many praying Christians of both races who are striving to bring about this change."

Charles Octavius Boothe, 1845 – 1924

Charles Octavius Boothe, 1845 – 1924

Preacher, Educator, Author & Advocate

Charles Octavius Boothe was born into slavery in Mobile County, Alabama, on June 13, 1845. He began reading at 3 years old and from a young age, growing up African American Baptist faith, he studied the Bible.

In addition to writing for the Baptist Pioneer, Boothe wrote two significant works: The Cyclopedia of the Colored Baptists of Alabama, which documented the efforts of African American Baptists in Alabama, and Plain Theology for Plain People, which offered easy-to-read, simplified explanations of religious concepts for Baptist ministers and church members.

Boothe also worked as a teacher in the Montgomery public school system and was passionate about providing education and literacy for African Americans so that they could achieve social advancements.

In addition to being an author and educator, Charles Octavius Boothe also established and pastored two churches following the Civil War: the First Colored Baptist Church in Meridian, Miss., and Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. pastored in the mid-20th century.

“Boothe offers a window into an underexplored vista of theological expression, and offers black evangelicals a deep sense of belonging in a tradition that has historically overlooked their voice” – Walter Strickland

Amanda Berry Smith, 1837 – 1915

Amanda Berry Smith, 1837 – 1915

Evangelist, Missionary, and Orphanage Founder

Amanda Berry Smith was born into slavery in 1837. Her father eventually earned enough wages to buy his family’s freedom but Amanda would still not be allowed a formal education because she was an African American.

Amanda Berry Smith’s adulthood was full of heartache – losing her first husband in the civil war, the loss of several children, the death of her second husband, and dreams left unfulfilled. But her faith in God remained and she held her calling to preach close to her heart.

In 1870, when Amanda Berry Smith was 33 and the year after her second husband’s passing, Smith began to preach and sing at holiness camp meetings and became well-known for her ministry. Eight years later she began traveling for short-term and long-term missions to India, Great Britain, and Liberia.

Upon her return to the United States, Amanda Berry Smith began pursuing her long-time dream of educating African American children by founding the Amanda Smith Orphanage and Industrial Home for Abandoned and Destitute Colored Children.

“To stay here and disobey God – I can’t afford to take the consequence. I would rather go and obey God than to stay here and know that I disobeyed.” – Amanda Berry Smith

Henry McNeal Turner, 1834 – 1915

Henry McNeal Turner, 1834 – 1915

Preacher, Politician, Theologian, Chaplain

When Henry McNeal Turner was 8 years old, he had a desire to learn but it was illegal at that time for African Americans, free or enslaved, to attend school. Out of determination he would try to teach himself to read but when sleep would begin to overtake him, he knelt by his bed and asked God for help. Turner said that at night, in his dreams, an angel would come and teach him how to read in his sleep!

“I would study with all the intensity of my soul until overcome by sleep at night; then I would kneel down and pray, and ask the Lord to teach me what I was not able to understand myself, and as soon as I would fall asleep an angelic personage would appear with open book in hand and teach me how to pronounce every word that I failed in pronouncing while awake, and on each subsequent day the lessons given me in my dreams would be better understood than any other portions of the lessons. This angelic teacher, or dream teacher, at all events, carried me through the old Webster’s spelling book and thus enabled me to read the Bible and hymnbook.”

Turner became an avid learner and was able to memorize an incredible amount of information. By the time he was 15 he had already read the Bible five times and memorized lengthy passages of it. When Turner was around 17 years he gave His live wholly to Jesus and began feeling a tug on his heart to preach. 

Henry McNeal Turner turned out to be an amazing preacher who was able to make brilliant connections between texts and scripture, garnering him the nickname “Negro Spurgeon.” He was a licensed preacher through the SMEC church (which was very unusual for an African American at the time) which allowed him to move throughout the slave-holding South, preaching to both black and white audiences.

In 1862, after planting a church in Baltimore, Turner moved to Washington, DC as the pastor of the large and influential Israel AME Church congregation. Turner became increasingly interested in politics, debate, and intellectual exchange and organized a lyceum at his church for congregants to debate important matters. Turner also became a correspondent for Christian Recorder, the AME’s weekly newspaper. Turner also became the first black chaplain in the military and served in the civil war sharing the gospel of salvation and continuing his work as a correspondent. 

After the civil war, Henry McNeal Turner continued to walk in the world of politics, writing, and ministry. He was not limited to the walls of the church but saw the need for public engagement of God-talk – particularly around the ideals of freedom, justice, and democracy. 

Peter Randolph, 1825-1897

Peter Randolph, 1825 –1897

Pastor & Author

Peter Raldolph was born a slave during a time when professing-Christian slave-owners either refused to allow slaves to hear the gospel or they only allowed them to hear a manipulated, vitiated form of it that solely emphasized the importance of “servants obeying their masters.”

Raldolph was a mighty Christian and even with the threat of 200 lashings he would join with other slaves for secret prayer meetings:

"the slaves assemble in the swamp, out of reach of the patrols. They have an understanding among themselves as to the time and place. … This is often done by the first one arriving breaking boughs from the trees and bending them in the direction of the selected spot.

"After arriving and greeting one another, men and women sat in groups together. Then there was "preaching … by the brethren, then praying and singing all around until they generally feel quite happy."

The speaker rises "and talks very slowly, until feeling the spirit, he grows excited, and in a short time there fall to the ground 20 or 30 men and women under its influence.”

After gaining his freedom, Randolph moved to Boston and became involved with the Anti-Slavery Society, a licensed Baptist preacher, a missionary in Canada, a chaplain in the Civil War, and a pastor of what has become one of the largest black churches in Boston. Most notably, Randolph published two books that became widely circulated: “Sketches of Slave Life” and “From Slave Cabin to the Pulpit” . His books helped shed light on the realities of what life was like as a slave in order to encourage the anti-slavery movement.

Read More here.

Julia Foote, 1823–1901

Julia Foote, 1823 – 1901

Preacher

After a radical salvation experience, Julia Foote had a relentless desire for the word of God and for His presence in her life. She began ministering to people in her community by holding prayer meetings and teaching them about God’s sanctification. When she felt the Lord call her to preach, she vehemently resisted: “I thought it could not be that I was called to preach—I, so weak and ignorant.”

After struggling with the call to preach for several months, Julia became emboldened by the Holy Spirit and began her relentless pursuit to share the gospel, becoming a very influential preacher.

Julia traveled throughout the United States and Canada for more than fifty years, preaching at camp meetings, revivals, and churches. She was the first woman ordained as a deacon in the AME Zion Church in 1894 and the second to be ordained as an elder in 1899. Julia remained active in ministry until her death in 1901. She was a role model for black women aspiring to be ministers and an advocate for participatory equality and ordination of women in the church.*

“God is holy, and if I would enjoy constant communion with him I must guard every avenue of my soul, and watch every thought of my heart and word of my tongue, that I may be blameless before him in love.”

Read More Here. Read Julia’s Autobiography Here.

** source: https://www.ihopkc.org/malachiproject/biography/julia-foote

Harriet Tubman, 1822 – 1913

Harriet Tubman, 1822 – 1913

Interceding Abolitionist

Harriet Tubman was born a slave with a vision of freedom. She had a deep walk with the Lord and would hear Him speak to her on a regular basis. Her intimacy with the Holy Spirit and her trust in His leading would be the source of the courage and knowledge that resulted in remarkable liberty for scores of people.

With the help of the Underground Railroad, Harriet was able to escape and make her way to Philadelphia. However, Harriet’s personal freedom was not satisfying enough for her – she was determined to help free other slaves as well, even if it cost her her everything.

“The Lord told me to do this. I said, ‘Oh Lord, I can’t—don’t ask me—take somebody else.’” But Harriet also reported that God spoke directly to her: “It’s you I want, Harriet Tubman.”

In 1850, Harriet made the first of what would be approximately thirteen trips over the course of ten years back into slave territory for the purpose of guiding others to freedom. Harriet relied on the voice of God to help her guide seventy people, including her own mother and father, to freedom.

“Twant me, 'twas the Lord. I always told him, 'I trust to you. I don't know where to go or what to do, but I expect you to lead me,' and He always did.”
― Harriet Tubman

Read More here.

Frederick Douglass, 1818 – 1895

Frederick Douglass, 1818 – 1895

Abolitionist

Frederick Douglass is arguably the most important black leader of 19th century American history due to his impactful writings, abolitionist work, and social activism – but the core of his convictions were rooted in his deep Christian faith. As a teenager, Douglass was discipled by a free black couple as he grappled his way towards salvation. It was especially challenging for Douglass to reconcile the Christianity of the Bible with the religion that was preached by the pro-slavery church of America.

The Lord began to stir the revelation of His justice and His disdain for oppression in Douglass’ heart, and with the voice of a prophet Douglass began speaking and writing about how the bondage of slavery and the oppressive powers of white supremacy were incompatible with the God of the Bible.

By the time Douglass passed away, he had delivered thousands of speeches, published three books, founded and edited newspapers, met with President Abraham Lincoln to lobby for emancipation, and championed the cause of African American civil and political equality after the Civil War.

“I love the religion of Christianity - which cometh from above - which is a pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of good fruits, and without hypocrisy.”

Read More Here.

Sojourner Truth, 1797–1883

Sojourner Truth, 1797–1883

Abolitionist and women's rights advocate

Sojourner Truth was born a slave named Isabella Baumfree in southeastern New York. After moving from owner to owner (many of them especially cruel) she ran away at 17 and took refuge with a Quaker couple. This couple ended up buying Sojourner’s freedom from her slave owner.

A few years later, Sojourner had a visitation from the Lord where "God revealed himself to her, with all the suddenness of a flash of lightning, showing her, 'in the twinkling of an eye, that he was all over,' that he pervaded the universe, 'and that there was no place where God was not.'…"Jesus loved me! I knowed it, I felt it.""

Sojourner desired a new identity in Christ so she asked God for a new name. God renamed her Sojourner "because I was to travel up an' down the land, showin' the people their sins, an' bein' a sign unto them." She then asked God for a second name, "'cause everybody else had two names; and the Lord gave me Truth, because I was to declare the truth to the people."

Sojourner began preaching the gospel of freedom all over New England, contending for the rights of slaves and women. Through her life Sojourner always relied on the discipline of prayer to guide her. Having never learned to read, she asked people to read and re-read the Bible to her and empowered by the Word of God and her own prayer life, she fearlessly campaigned for the equal dignity and rights of all human beings.

"When I preaches," she said, "I has just one text to preach from, an' I always preaches from this one. My text is, 'When I found Jesus.' "

Read More here.

Zilpha Elaw, 1790–1873

Zilpha Elaw, 1790–1873

Preacher

Zilpha was born into a free, devoutly Christian family in Pennsylvania in 1790. She met God as a young teenager, and something was sparked in her. She was transformed in the secret place as His Word went down deep into her spirit, and overcame the inner turmoil and seemingly insurmountable obstacles of being a black female in the South, to be filled with the Holy Spirit and boldness, going on to preach with great power.

Her preaching took her to many states in the Northeastern U.S., and even eventually through the South, despite the very real danger of being arrested and forced into slavery there. She preached at poor black congregations, wealthy white chapels, and everything in between. Many people were saved under her ministry, and more than one was healed.

Two primary factors Zilpha had feared would hinder her preaching—namely, being black and being female—were many times what drew people to hear her. They came initially due to curiosity, but soon were genuinely convicted and hungry to hear more. Some came expressly to mock and threaten her, but found themselves weeping and asking her to pray for them.

Zilpha's story teaches us that it's not our position, skill level, or ability to be charismatic and charming that makes us preachers of the Gospel. It's hiding in the secret place and allowing His Word to deposit in our hearts, becoming a part of who we are, that eventually overflows to bring life to others.

Text source: International House of Prayer, The Malachi Project – see original post and video here

John Stewert, 1786–1823

John Stewert, 1786–1823

Missionary to the Wyandott Indians

John Stewert was a depressed alcoholic when he first heard the audible voice of God. The second time he heard His voice was in a tent meeting when God call him to “declare my counsel faithfully.” John decided he would follow the call and share the gospel of Christ to the Wyandott Indians of Ohio.

Many of the Wyandott Indians, including the chiefs, became Christians after receiving an internal peace through Jesus that they had never experienced before. The gospel of Christ also brought reconciliation to broken relationships and freedom from alcoholism which had been plaguing the tribe before John’s testimony of Christ.

John Stewert’s outreach was “the real beginning of American Methodist missionary work.”

Read More here.

Jarena Lee, 1783–1864

Jarena Lee, 1783–1864

Evangelist

Jarena Lee had so much stacked against her. As a black woman in the United States during the time of slavery, she had no power or rights. She struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts. She went through the unimaginable loss of 6 of her family members, including her husband, in a short duration of time, leaving her to provide and raise two children on her own. But despite her circumstances, she heard God ask her to preach the gospel and her spirit was stirred by His call.

Jarena submitted this calling to her pastor, Richard Allen (see our Feb 5 post), but he did not feel comfortable having a woman behind the pulpit. Eight years later, Jarena was in the church service when the power of God descended on her and she leapt up and began preaching with incredible authority. Richard Allen, realizing that the Lord had anointed Jarena to preach, encouraged her to run with her calling. Jarena proceeded to preach regularly to black, white, male, female, methodist, baptist, and several other congregations throughout the United States.

Learn more and here.

“Here by the instrumentality of a poor coloured woman, the Lord poured forth his spirit among the people…there were lawyers, doctors, and magistrates present, to hear me speak, yet there was mourning and crying among sinners, for the Lord scattered fire among them of his own kindling. The Lord gave his handmaiden power to speak for his great name, for he arrested the hearts of the people, and caused a shaking amongst the multitude, for God was in the midst.”

Lott Cary, 1780–1828

Lott Cary, 1780–1828

First African American Missionary to Africa

Lott Cary was the first African American missionary to Africa, was a man of great integrity, steadfast faith, and strong character. God used him mightily in Liberia, where he served as a preacher, teacher, governor and physician, to spread the gospel of Jesus.

Lott became a Christian during the second great awakening and began fiercely studying the Bible and teaching about Jesus. He later purchased his freedom and that of his family and began working, building wealth, and preaching. He then felt the call on his heart to go and share the gospel overseas. He forsake all of his worldly possessions, moved with his family to Liberia, and served the people there until his death.

“I feel it my duty to go; and I very much fear that many of those who preach the Gospel in this country, will blush when the Saviour calls them to give an account of their labors in His cause, and tells them, ‘I commanded you to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature;’ (and with the most forcible emphasis he exclaimed,) the Saviour may ask where have you been? what have you been doing? have you endeavored to the utmost of your ability to fulfil [sic] the commands I gave you, or have you sought your own gratification and your own ease, regardless of my commands.”

Read More here.

Richard Allen, 1760–1831

Richard Allen, 1760–1831

Church Founder

Richard Allen was the first African-American Christian bishop in North American and the founder the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, one of America’s first truly independent black denominations. Today, the AME Church boasts more than 2.5 million members.

Allen also formed The Free Produce Society, where members committed to only purchasing products from non-enslaved labor. With a vision of equal treatment for all, he railed against slavery, influencing later civil rights leaders such as Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr.

“The plain and simple gospel suits best for any people.”

Learn More