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.