Daniel Alexander Payne

This detailed biography gives a portrait of the life of Daniel Alexander Payne, a free person of color in nineteenth century Charleston, South Carolina. This work highlights his life as educator, pastor, abolitionist, poet, historiographer, hymn writer, ecumenist, and bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Payne was a strong voice for the freedom of his enslaved brothers and sisters of color as well as a vociferous supporter of general and theological education. Upon his election as president of Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1863, Payne became the first African American to lead an institution of higher education in the United States. In addition to exploring his work within the United States, this biography highlights and includes sources from Payne’s travels, work, and reception in nineteenth century Europe.

Recollections of Seventy Years

Who were Jupiter Hammon, Lemuel Haynes and Daniel Alexander Payne? And what do they have in common with Martin Luther King Jr., Howard Thurman and James Cone? All of these were African American Christian theologians, yet their theologies are, in many ways, worlds apart. In this book, Thabiti Anyabwile offers a challenging and provocative assessment of the history of African American Christian theology, from its earliest beginnings to the present. He argues trenchantly that the modern fruit of African American theology has fallen far from the tree of its early predecessors. In doing so, Anyabwile closely examines the theological commitments of prominent African American theologians throughout American history. Chapter by chapter, he traces what he sees as the theological decline of African American theology from one generation to the next, concluding with an unflinching examination of several contemporary figures. Replete with primary texts and illustrations, this book is a gold mine for any reader interested in the history of African American Christianity. With a foreword by Mark Noll.

In this outstanding cultural biography, the author of the New York Times bestseller A Slave in the White House chronicles a critical yet overlooked chapter in American history: the inspiring rise and calculated fall of the black elite, from Emancipation through Reconstruction to the Jim Crow Era—embodied in the experiences of an influential figure of the time, academic, entrepreneur, and political activist and black history pioneer Daniel Murray. In the wake of the Civil War, Daniel Murray, born free and educated in Baltimore, was in the vanguard of Washington, D.C.’s black upper class. Appointed Assistant Librarian at the Library of Congress—at a time when government appointments were the most prestigious positions available for blacks—Murray became wealthy through his business as a construction contractor and married a college-educated socialite. The Murrays’ social circles included some of the first African-American U.S. Senators and Congressmen, and their children went to the best colleges—Harvard and Cornell. Though Murray and other black elite of his time were primed to assimilate into the cultural fabric as Americans first and people of color second, their prospects were crushed by Jim Crow segregation and the capitulation to white supremacist groups by the government, which turned a blind eye to their unlawful—often murderous—acts. Elizabeth Dowling Taylor traces the rise, fall, and disillusionment of upper-class African Americans, revealing that they were a representation not of hypothetical achievement but what could be realized by African Americans through education and equal opportunities. As she makes clear, these well-educated and wealthy elite were living proof that African Americans did not lack ability to fully participate in the social contract as white supremacists claimed, making their subsequent fall when Reconstruction was prematurely abandoned all the more tragic. Illuminating and powerful, her magnificent work brings to life a dark chapter of American history that too many Americans have yet to recognize.

This is a biography of Daniel Alexander Payne, a free person of color in nineteenth century Charleston, South Carolina. He was an educator, pastor, abolitionist, poet, historiographer, hymn writer, ecumenist and bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Upon his election as president of Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1863, he became the first African American to lead an institution of higher education in the United States.

The Motif of Hope in African American Preaching during Slavery and the Post-Civil War Era: There's a Bright Side Somewhere explores the use of the motif of hope within African American preaching during slavery (1803–1865) and the post-Civil War era (1865–1896). It discusses the presentation of the motif of hope in African American preaching from an historical perspective and how this motif changed while in some instances remained the same with the changing of its historical context. Furthermore, this discussion illuminates a reality that hope has been a theme of importance throughout the history of African American preaching.

Excerpt from The Life of Daniel Alexander Payne, D.D., LL. D No one perhaps is better prepared to write a Mono graph on the life of the late Bishop Daniel A. Payne, D. D., LL. D., than Rev. C. S. Smith D. D., whose de voted friendship for the Bishop, growing out of a num ber of years of close official relationship, warrants him that knowledge which an eager public solicits of the character of one who was held in such high esteem as was Bishop Payne. There will be a demand for this Monograph on the life of the oldest Bishop in the A. M. E. Church, and the one who held the office of a Bishop longer than any one who has yet occupied the episcopal chair in any branch of the Methodist family It will not only be appreciated by those who knew him, and who learned to love him as he mingled with them in their social and religious life, but by those also who, reading it, will be inspired to make their lives sublime, and departing, leave behind them, as he did, footprints on the sands of time. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.