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Morris Brown
Morris Brown (January 8, 1770 – May 9, 1849) was one of the founders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and its second presiding bishop. He founded Emanuel AME Church in his native Charleston, South Carolina. It was implicated in the slave uprising planned by Denmark Vesey, also of this church, and after that was suppressed, Brown was imprisoned for nearly a year. He was never convicted of a crime.
After his release, he took his family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he worked closely with Bishop Richard Allen on expanding the church. After Allen's death, Brown was selected as the second bishop of the AME denomination. He planted new congregations and established conferences of AME churches in the American Midwest and Ontario, Canada. He also mentored rising AME leaders such as the Rev. Daniel Payne, and encouraged formal education for new preachers and pastors.
Born on either January 8 or February 13, 1770 to parents who were free people of color in Charleston, South Carolina, Brown received no formal education. This was typical for many common people in those years before public schools were founded, and he was taught skills at home. He and his family were successful and considered part of the city's free Black American elite. Its large black population was mostly enslaved in the antebellum years.
Brown became a skilled shoemaker. After a religious experience in the Methodist Church, he received a license to preach. In this period, the Methodist and Baptist churches had evangelized to both free and enslaved African Americans. They allowed them to be preachers and members, but the church congregations usually required the people of color to sit in segregated sections.
Brown married Maria, and they ultimately had six children.
In 1817, Brown traveled north to Philadelphia, as he had learned that Rev. Richard Allen and 15 delegates from four northern states had founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church there the previous year. This was the first independent black denomination in the United States. Pennsylvania courts had allowed Rev. Allen's Mother Bethel AME Church to legally split from the Methodist denomination. Rev. Allen ordained Brown a deacon, and the following year ordained him as an elder.
Rev. Brown returned to Charleston. African-American members of the white-dominated Bethel Methodist congregation were upset that white leaders had authorized construction of a hearse house on the site of the traditional black burying ground at the church. Bethel had allowed its black members, many of whom were enslaved, to meet for worship services in its basement, as was typical of many churches in the city. As a result of loss of the burial ground, Brown left the congregation in protest.
He was joined by many African Americans from Bethel and two other Methodist congregations, who formed a separate congregation, first known as Hampstead Church. It later was named as Emanuel AME Church. The church rapidly attracted members, as blacks were a majority in Charleston. It had a membership of 1848 in 1818, made up mostly of enslaved African Americans.
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Morris Brown
Morris Brown (January 8, 1770 – May 9, 1849) was one of the founders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and its second presiding bishop. He founded Emanuel AME Church in his native Charleston, South Carolina. It was implicated in the slave uprising planned by Denmark Vesey, also of this church, and after that was suppressed, Brown was imprisoned for nearly a year. He was never convicted of a crime.
After his release, he took his family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he worked closely with Bishop Richard Allen on expanding the church. After Allen's death, Brown was selected as the second bishop of the AME denomination. He planted new congregations and established conferences of AME churches in the American Midwest and Ontario, Canada. He also mentored rising AME leaders such as the Rev. Daniel Payne, and encouraged formal education for new preachers and pastors.
Born on either January 8 or February 13, 1770 to parents who were free people of color in Charleston, South Carolina, Brown received no formal education. This was typical for many common people in those years before public schools were founded, and he was taught skills at home. He and his family were successful and considered part of the city's free Black American elite. Its large black population was mostly enslaved in the antebellum years.
Brown became a skilled shoemaker. After a religious experience in the Methodist Church, he received a license to preach. In this period, the Methodist and Baptist churches had evangelized to both free and enslaved African Americans. They allowed them to be preachers and members, but the church congregations usually required the people of color to sit in segregated sections.
Brown married Maria, and they ultimately had six children.
In 1817, Brown traveled north to Philadelphia, as he had learned that Rev. Richard Allen and 15 delegates from four northern states had founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church there the previous year. This was the first independent black denomination in the United States. Pennsylvania courts had allowed Rev. Allen's Mother Bethel AME Church to legally split from the Methodist denomination. Rev. Allen ordained Brown a deacon, and the following year ordained him as an elder.
Rev. Brown returned to Charleston. African-American members of the white-dominated Bethel Methodist congregation were upset that white leaders had authorized construction of a hearse house on the site of the traditional black burying ground at the church. Bethel had allowed its black members, many of whom were enslaved, to meet for worship services in its basement, as was typical of many churches in the city. As a result of loss of the burial ground, Brown left the congregation in protest.
He was joined by many African Americans from Bethel and two other Methodist congregations, who formed a separate congregation, first known as Hampstead Church. It later was named as Emanuel AME Church. The church rapidly attracted members, as blacks were a majority in Charleston. It had a membership of 1848 in 1818, made up mostly of enslaved African Americans.
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