African Methodist Episcopal Church - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the A.M.E. Church, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination based in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It was founded by the Rev. Richard Allen

Richard Allen (reverend)

Richard Allen was a minister, educator and writer, and the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal , the first independent black denomination in the United States in 1816. He opened his first church in 1794 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was elected the first bishop of the AME Church...

in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the mid-Atlantic area that wanted independence from white Methodists. Allen was elected its first bishop in 1816.

Church name

African: The AME Church was organized by people of African descent. The church was not founded in Africa, nor is it only for persons of African descent. The church is open to people of all races.
Methodist: The church's roots are in the Methodist church. Members of St. George's Methodist Church left the congregation when faced with racial discrimination, but continued with the Methodist doctrine and the order of worship.
Episcopal: The AME Church operates under an episcopal form of church government
Episcopal polity
Episcopal polity is a form of church governance that is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop...

. The denomination leaders are bishops of the church.

Motto

"God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, the Holy Spirit Our Comforter, Humankind Our Family"

Derived from Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne

Daniel Payne

Daniel Alexander Payne was an American bishop, educator, college administrator and author. He became a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and was a major shaper of it in the 19th century. He was one of the founders of Wilberforce University in Ohio...

's original motto "God our Father, Christ our Redeemer, Man our Brother", which served as the AME Church motto until the 2008 General Conference, when the current motto was officially adopted.

History

The AME Church grew out of the Free African Society (FAS), which free blacks Richard Allen, Absalom Jones

Absalom Jones

Absalom Jones was an African-American abolitionist and clergyman. After founding a black congregation in 1794, in 1804 he was the first African-American ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church of the United States...

, and others established in Philadelphia in 1787. They left St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church

St. George's United Methodist Church

St. George's United Methodist Church, located at the corner of 4th and New Streets, in Philadelphia, is the oldest Methodist church worship in continuous use in the United States....

because of discrimination. Although Allen and Jones were both accepted as preachers, they were limited to black congregations. In addition, the blacks were made to sit in a separate gallery. These former members of St. George’s made plans to transform their mutual aid society into an African congregation. Although the group was originally non-denominational, eventually members wanted to affiliate with existing denominations.

Allen led a small group who resolved to remain Methodist. They formed the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church

Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church

The Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1794 by Richard Allen, an African-American Methodist minister. The church has been located at the corner of Sixth and Lombard Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since that time, making it the oldest church property continuously...

in 1793. In general, they adopted the doctrines and form of government of the Methodist Episcopal Church

Methodist Episcopal Church

The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...

. In 1794 Bethel AME was dedicated with Allen as pastor. To establish Bethel’s independence, Allen successfully sued in the Pennsylvania courts in 1807 and 1815 for the right of his congregation to exist as an institution independent of white Methodist congregations. Because black Methodists in other middle Atlantic communities also encountered racism and desired religious autonomy, Allen called them to meet in Philadelphia in 1816 to form a new Wesleyan denomination, the "African Methodist Episcopal Church" (AME Church).

The African Methodist Episcopal Church has a unique history as it is the first major religious denomination in the western world that developed because of sociological rather than theological differences. It was the first African-American denomination organized and incorporated in the US. The church was born in protest against racial discrimination and slavery

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

. This was in keeping with the Methodist Church's philosophy, whose founder John Wesley

John Wesley

John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...

had once called the slave-trade "that execrable sum of all villainies". In the 19th century, the AME Church of Ohio collaborated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, a predominantly white denomination, in sponsoring the second independent historically black college (HBCU), Wilberforce University

Wilberforce University

Wilberforce University is a private, coed, liberal arts historically black university located in Wilberforce, Ohio. Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans...

in Ohio. While many believe that Wilfberforce is the oldest HBCU in the nation, it is not. Its founding came after that of Cheyney University in Pennsylvania which was founded in 1837. Among Wilberforce University's early founders was Salmon P. Chase

Salmon P. Chase

Salmon Portland Chase was an American politician and jurist who served as U.S. Senator from Ohio and the 23rd Governor of Ohio; as U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Abraham Lincoln; and as the sixth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.Chase was one of the most prominent members...

, then-governor of Ohio, and the future President Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

's Secretary of Treasury

United States Secretary of the Treasury

The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with financial and monetary matters, and, until 2003, also with some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United...

.

Other members of the FAS who wanted to affiliate with the Protestant Episcopal Church

Episcopal Church (United States)

The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...

allied with Absalom Jones

Absalom Jones

. In 1792, they founded the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, the first Episcopal church with a founding black congregation in the United States. In 1804, Jones was ordained as the first black priest in the Episcopal Church.

While the AME is doctrinally Methodist, clergy, scholars, and lay persons have written works that demonstrate the distinctive racial theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

and praxis that have come to define this Wesleyan body. In an address to the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions, Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett

Benjamin W. Arnett

Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett was an African American educator, minister, and elected official. He was born a free man in 1838 in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, where he taught school from 1859 to 1867...

reminded the audience of blacks' influence in the formation of Christianity. Bishop Benjamin T. Tanner wrote in 1895 in The Color of Solomon – What? that biblical scholars wrongly portrayed the son of David as a white man. In the post-civil rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

era, theologians minister James Cone, Cecil W. Cone, and Jacqueline Grant, who came from the AME tradition, critiqued Euro-centric Christianity and African-American churches for their shortcomings in resolving the plight of those oppressed by racism, sexism, and economic disadvantage.

Beliefs

The AME motto, "God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, Holy Spirit Our Comforter, Humankind Our Family", reflects the basic beliefs of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The basic foundations of the beliefs of the church can be summarized in the Apostles' Creed

Apostles' Creed

The Apostles' Creed , sometimes titled Symbol of the Apostles, is an early statement of Christian belief, a creed or "symbol"...

, The Twenty Five Articles of Religion

Articles of Religion (Methodist)

The Articles of Religion are an official doctrinal statement of American Methodism. John Wesley abridged for the American Methodists the Thirty-Nine Articles of Anglicanism, removing the Calvinistic parts among others. The Articles were adopted at a conference in 1784 and are found in paragraph 103...

, held in common with other Methodist Episcopal congregations. The church also observes the official bylaws of the AME Church. The "Doctrine and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church" is revised at every General Conference and published every five years.

Church mission

The Mission of the African Methodist Episcopal Church is to minister to the spiritual, intellectual, physical, emotional, and environmental needs of all people by spreading Christ's liberating gospel through word and deed. At every level of the Connection and in every local church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church shall engage in carrying out the spirit of the original Free African Society, out of which the AME Church evolved: that is, to seek out and save the lost, and serve the needy through a continuing program of

preaching the gospel,
feeding the hungry,
clothing the naked,
housing the homeless,
cheering the fallen,
providing jobs for the jobless,
administering to the needs of those in prisons, hospitals, nursing homes, asylums and mental institutions, senior citizens' homes; caring for the sick, the shut-in, the mentally and socially disturbed, and
encouraging thrift and economic advancement.

Colleges, seminaries and universities

The African Methodist Episcopal Church has been one of the forerunners of education within the African-American community.

Former colleges & universities of the AME Church:

Western University
Western University (Kansas)
Western University was a historically black college established as Quindaro Freedman's School at Quindaro, Kansas after the Civil War. It was the earliest school for African Americans west of the Mississippi River and the only one ever to operate in the state of Kansas...

(Kansas)

Senior colleges within the United States:

Allen University
Allen University
-External links:* -- Official web site...

(Columbia, SC) Website
Edward Waters College
Edward Waters College
-External links:* -- Official web site** at * Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs** **...

(Jacksonville, FL) Website
Morris Brown College
Morris Brown College
Morris Brown College is a private, coed, liberal arts college located in the Vine City community of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is a historically black college affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church...

(Atlanta, GA) Website
Paul Quinn College
Paul Quinn College
Paul Quinn College is a private, historically black college located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas . Paul Quinn College holds the distinction as the oldest historically black college in the country west of the Mississippi River...

(Dallas, TX) Website
Wilberforce University
Wilberforce University
Wilberforce University is a private, coed, liberal arts historically black university located in Wilberforce, Ohio. Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans...

(Wilberforce, OH) Website

Junior colleges within the United States:

Shorter College
Shorter College (Arkansas)
Shorter College is a two-year, private, historically black liberal arts college located in North Little Rock, Arkansas. It was founded in 1886 by the African Methodist Episcopal Church....

(North Little Rock, AR) Website

Theological seminaries within the United States:

Jackson Theological Seminary Website
Payne Theological Seminary Website
Turner Theological Seminary Website

Foreign colleges and universities:

African Methodist Episcopal University
African Methodist Episcopal University
The African Methodist Episcopal University is a private institution of higher learning located in Monrovia in the West African nation of Liberia. Located on Camp Johnson Road, the school is the second largest college in Liberia with nearly 3,500 students...

, Liberia

The General Conference

The General Conference is the supreme body of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. It is composed of the Bishops, as ex-officio presidents, according to the rank of election, and an equal number of ministerial and lay delegates, elected by each of the Annual Conferences and the lay Electoral Colleges of the Annual Conferences. Other ex-officio members are: the General Officers, College Presidents, Deans of Theological Seminaries; Chaplains in the Regular Armed Forces of the U.S.A. The General Conference meets every four years, but may have extra sessions in certain emergencies.

Council of Bishops

The Council of Bishops is the Executive Branch of the Connectional Church. It has the general oversight of the Church during the interim between General Conferences. The Council of Bishops shall meet annually at such time and place as the majority of the Council shall determine and also at such other times as may be deemed necessary in the discharging its responsibility as the Executive Branch of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The Council of Bishops shall hold at least two public sessions at each annual meeting. At the first, complaints and petitions against a Bishop shall be heard, at the second, the decisions of the Council shall be made public. All decisions shall be in writing.
A Notable Candidate in the 2011 - 2012 Campaign for Bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church is Swansea South Carolina Native the Rev. Dr. Harry L . Seawright; Pastor of Union Bethel Church in Brandywine, Maryland. The only Candidate who according to exit polling at campaign events is considered the qualified popular candidate of choice. See: http://www.seawrightforbishop2012.com/

Board of Incorporators

The Board of Incorporators, also known as the General Board of Trustees, has the supervision, in trust, of all connectional property of the Church and is vested with authority to act in behalf of the Connectional Church wherever necessary.

The General Board

The General Board is in many respects the administrative body and comprises various departmental Commissions made up of the respective Secretary-Treasurer, the General Secretary of the AME, Church the General Treasurer and the members of the various Commissions and one Bishop as presiding officer with the other Bishops associating.

Judicial Council

The Judicial Council is the highest judicatory body of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. It is an appellate court, elected by the General Conference and is amenable to it.

AME Connectional Health Commission

The Connectional Health Commission serves, among other tasks, to help the denomination understand health as an integral part of the faith of the Christian Church, to seek to make our denomination a healing faith community, and to promote the health concerns of its members. One of the initiatives of the commission is the establishment of an interactive website that will allow not only health directors, but the AMEC membership at-large to access health information, complete reports, request assistance. This website serves as a resource for members of the AMEC, and will be a the same for anyone who accesses the website. Additionally, as this will be an interactive site, it will allow health directors to enter a password protected chat room to discuss immediate needs and coordinate efforts for relief regionally, nationally and globally.

It is through this website that efforts to distribute information about resources and public health updates, and requests for services may be coordinated nationally. This will allow those who access the website to use one central location for all resource information needs.

Overview

The World Council of Churches

World Council of Churches

The World Council of Churches is a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service. It is a Christian ecumenical organization that is based in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland...

estimates the membership of the AME Church at around 2,500,000, 3817 pastors, 21 bishops and 7000 congregations.

The AME Church is a member of the National Council of Churches

National Council of Churches

The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA is an ecumenical partnership of 37 Christian faith groups in the United States. Its member denominations, churches, conventions, and archdioceses include Mainline Protestant, Orthodox, African American, Evangelical, and historic peace...

of Christ in the USA (NCC), and the World Council of Churches

World Council of Churches

.

The AME Church is not related to either the Union American Methodist Episcopal Church

Union American Methodist Episcopal Church

The Union American Methodist Episcopal Church, which is usually called the "U.A.M.E. Church," was formally organized as a separate denomination in 1865 by some congregations of the African Union Church founded by Peter Spencer in 1813....

(which was founded in Delaware

Delaware

Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...

by Peter Spencer

Peter Spencer

Peter Spencer was born under slavery in Kent County, Maryland, in 1782 and grew up to be the founder of the first independent black Christian Church the United States, the A.U.M.P. Church in Wilmington,Delaware,which was a great success.The A.U.M.P. Church is still in existence....

in 1813), or the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, or AME Zion Church, is a historically African-American Christian denomination. It was officially formed in 1821, but operated for a number of years before then....

(which was founded in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

by Peter Williams).

The Four Horsemen: important bishops

Richard Allen
Richard Allen (reverend)
Richard Allen was a minister, educator and writer, and the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal , the first independent black denomination in the United States in 1816. He opened his first church in 1794 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was elected the first bishop of the AME Church...

, founder and first bishop (1816–1841)
William Paul Quinn
William Paul Quinn
William Paul Quinn was the fourth bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Quinn was born in Calcutta, India. He was at the organization of the AME Church in 1816, ordained a deacon in 1818, and an elder in 1838. The General Conference of the church elected him a bishop on May 19, 1844...

, fourth bishop (1849–1873)
Daniel Payne
Daniel Payne
Daniel Alexander Payne was an American bishop, educator, college administrator and author. He became a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and was a major shaper of it in the 19th century. He was one of the founders of Wilberforce University in Ohio...

, sixth bishop (1811–1893)
Henry McNeal Turner
Henry McNeal Turner
Henry McNeal Turner was a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.-Personal Biography:Turner was born "free" in Newberry Courthouse, South Carolina . Instead of being sold into slavery, his family sent him to live with a Quaker family. The law at the time of his birth prevented a black...

, twelfth bishop (1834–1915)

Active bishops

(in order of current episcopal district)

Richard Franklin Norris
Adam Jefferson Richardson, Jr.
Cornal Garnett Henning, Sr.
John Richard Bryant
John Richard Bryant
Bishop John Richard Bryant, born on June 8, 1943, is the Senior Bishop and Presiding Prelate of the Fourth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.-Biography:Bryant is the son of the late Bishop Harrison James and Edith Holland Bryant...
Theodore Larry Kirkland
William Phillips DeVeaux, Sr.
Preston Warren Williams, II
Carolyn Tyler Guidry
Carolyn Tyler Guidry
Bishop Carolyn Tyler-Guidry of the African Methodist Episcopal Church was the first female appointed to be a presiding elder in the Fifth Episcopal District of the AME Church and the second female bishop in the denomination. Bishop Tyler-Guidry is a member of Sigma Gamma Rho...
James Levert Davis
James Levert Davis
James Levert Davis is the 123rd elected and consecrated bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was elected to the office of bishop at the 47th General Conference of the AME Church in 2004...
Gregory Gerald McKinley Ingram
McKinley Young
Samuel Lawrence Green, Sr.
Vashti Murphy McKenzie
Vashti Murphy McKenzie
Vashti Murphy McKenzie was elected as the first female bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She is also the national chaplain of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and the granddaughter of Delta founder Vashti Turley Murphy...
David Rwhynica Daniels, Jr.
Wilfred Messiah
Sarah Frances Davis
Paul Jones Kawimbe
E. Earl McCloud, Jr.
Jeffrey N. Leath
Julius H. McAlister, Sr.
John F. White, Sr. Office of Ecumenical Affairs

Retired bishops

John Hurst Adams
Richard Allen Hildebrand
Frederick Hilborn Talbot
Hamil Hartford Brookins
Vinton Randolph Anderson
Frederick Calhoun James
Frank Curtis Cummings
Philip Robert Cousin, Sr
Henry Allen Belin, Jr.
Richard Allen Chappelle, Sr
Robert Vaughn Webster
Zedekiah Lazett Grady

Notable clergy and educators

Bishop Vinton Randolph Anderson (1927 - ) First African-American to be elected President of the World Council of Churches and served from Jan 1991 - Dec 1998); author of My Soul Shouts and subject of an edited work (Gayraud Wilmore & Louis Charles Harvey, editors, A Model of A Servant Bishop; first native Bermudian elected a bishop in any church/denomination
Bishop Richard Harvey Cain - elected member of US House of Representatives from SC during Reconstruction
Bishop Reverdy Cassius Ransom - creative founder of NAACP via The Niagra Movement concept
Bishop William Heard (1850–1937), AME minister and educator. Appointed by the U.S. government as "Minister Resident/Consul General" to Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...

(1895–1898)http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/po/com/10906.htm
Bishop Daniel Payne
Daniel Payne
Daniel Alexander Payne was an American bishop, educator, college administrator and author. He became a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and was a major shaper of it in the 19th century. He was one of the founders of Wilberforce University in Ohio...

(1811–1893), historian, educator and AME minister. First African-American president of an African-American university, Wilberforce University
Wilberforce University
Wilberforce University is a private, coed, liberal arts historically black university located in Wilberforce, Ohio. Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans...

, in the U.S. http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/78/Bishop_Daniel_Payne_lead_with_mind_and_spirit
Dr. Jamye Coleman Williams (1918 -), educator, community leader. Former editor of the AME Church Review; recipient of the NAACP Presidential Award (1999).http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=637&category=religionMakers
Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie
Vashti Murphy McKenzie
Vashti Murphy McKenzie was elected as the first female bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She is also the national chaplain of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and the granddaughter of Delta founder Vashti Turley Murphy...

, first female AME bishop in church history, best-selling author.
Bishop Carolyn Tyler Guidry
Carolyn Tyler Guidry
Bishop Carolyn Tyler-Guidry of the African Methodist Episcopal Church was the first female appointed to be a presiding elder in the Fifth Episcopal District of the AME Church and the second female bishop in the denomination. Bishop Tyler-Guidry is a member of Sigma Gamma Rho...

(1937- ), second female AME bishop in church history. http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=877&category=religionMakers
Rev. Dr. Floyd H. Flake
Floyd H. Flake
Floyd Harold Flake is the senior pastor of the 23,000 member Greater Allen African Methodist Episcopal Cathedral in Jamaica, Queens, New York, and president of Wilberforce University...

(1945- ), former U.S. Congressman from New York (1986–1998); senior pastor of the Greater Allen AME Cathedral in Jamaica,Queens, New York.

Rev. Dr. Harry L. Seawright (1954 -) Pastor of Union Bethel AME Church [ http://www.ubame.org ]. Rev. Seawright was the first Pastor in the AME connectional church to start "One Church in Two locations" in the AME connectional church. Likewise, he is a well noted author of "How to build a church with out losing your mind" worth noting is the fact that the Rev. Dr. Seawright is a candidate for Bishop in 2011- 2012. See http://www.seawrightforbishop2012.com

Rev. Lyman S. Parks (1917-2009), Mayor of Grand Rapids, Michigan (1971 - 1976); Pastor First Community AME Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Rev. Dr. Frank M. Reid III (1951-) Pastor of the Bethel A.M.E. Church in Baltimore link title. Rev. Reid started "The Bethel Outreach of Love" Broadcast was the first African Methodist Episcopal Church to have an international TV broadcast. He is a well noted author. Was selected as the 26th most influential person in Baltimore by Baltimore Magazine. His membership includes the mayor and city comptroller of Baltimore. He was also a consultant for the TV show Amen
Amen
The word amen is a declaration of affirmation found in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. Its use in Judaism dates back to its earliest texts. It has been generally adopted in Christian worship as a concluding word for prayers and hymns. In Islam, it is the standard ending to Dua and the...

, and guest starred several times on the popular HBO series The Wire
The Wire (TV series)
The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States...

.
Rev. Henry Aaron Joubert (1940–2004) leader par execellence of Cape Town South Africa, administrator builder and respected leader in the community in which he resided. Respected by all Bishops he served under and rendered untiring service in adverse situations in South Africa.
Rev. King Solomon Dupont - AME clergy who was first African American to seek public office in northern Florida since re-construction in 1950s and VP of Tallahassee Civic Association which spearheaded a life threatening bus boycott simultaneous to the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955.
D. Ormonde Walker
D. Ormonde Walker
D. Ormonde Walker was the 10th president of Wilberforce University, serving from 1936-1941. He was the 66th bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.-References:...

, 66th bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and 10th president of Wilberforce University
Wilberforce University
Wilberforce University is a private, coed, liberal arts historically black university located in Wilberforce, Ohio. Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans...
Rev. Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant
Jamal Harrison Bryant
Dr. Jamal-Harrison Bryant. is an African-American preacher and pastor of the Empowerment Temple AME Church in his hometown of Baltimore...

(1971- ) Dr. Bryant founded Empowerment Temple AME in 2000 with a congregation of 43 people. Today, with more than 7,500 members attending weekly services at Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, Maryland, and approximately 35,000 followers on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, he believes that “God is not just in the church; He is also in technology.” His mission is to “empower people spiritually, develop them educationally, expose them culturally, activate them politically, and strengthen them economically.” Dr. Bryant’s contributions have been highlighted in Ebony, Hope Today, Gospel Today, Emerge, Sister to Sister, USA Today, and The Source. He has appeared on BET’s Meet the Faith and “Lift Every Voice”, CNN, C-Span, Trinity Broadcast Networkand ,Politically Incorrect, and served as a panelist for State of the Black Union hosted by renowned author and talk show personality Tavis Smiley. He also will be releasing his greatly anticipated and latest book World War Me in January 2010.

Notable members

George Washington Buckner
George Washington Buckner
George Washington Buckner, , was an African American physician and diplomat. He was United States minister to Liberia from 1913 to 1915.-Life:...

, U.S. minister to Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...

, 1913-1915.
Byron Cage
Byron Cage
Byron Cage is an American gospel recording artist.-Early years:Inspired by the singing of the late Rev. Donald Vails and Thomas Whitfield, Cage began singing gospel music as a teenager. Cage went on to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA, where he was a member of the Morehouse College Glee...
James E. Clyburn
Jim Clyburn
James Enos "Jim" Clyburn is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993, and the Assistant Democratic Leader since 2011. He was previously House Majority Whip, serving in that post from 2007 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party...

US Representative (D-SC)
LL Cool J
LL Cool J
James Todd Smith , better known as LL Cool J , is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and actor...
Ernest Green - member of the Little Rock Nine
Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine was a group of African-American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The ensuing Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, and then...

who desegregated Central High School, in Little Rock, Arkansas
Alcee Hastings
Alcee Hastings
Alcee Lamar Hastings is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:...

, US House of Representatives (D-FL)
Arsenio Hall
Arsenio Hall
Arsenio Hall is an American actor, comedian, and former talk show host. He is best known for his talk show The Arsenio Hall Show, which ran between 1989 and 1994, and his roles in the films Coming to America and Harlem Nights.Hall is also known for his appearance as Alan Thicke's sidekick on the...
Gwen Ifill
Gwen Ifill
Gwendolyn L. "Gwen" Ifill is an American journalist, television newscaster and author. She is the managing editor and moderator of Washington Week and a senior correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, both of which air on PBS. She is a political analyst, and moderated the 2004 and 2008 Vice...
Vernon Jordan, noted civil rights leader and author
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick
Carolyn Jean Cheeks Kilpatrick is an American politician who was U.S. Representative for from 1997 to 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party. In August 2010 she lost the Democratic primary election...

US Representative (D-MI)
John Legend
John Legend
John Roger Stephens , better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career...
Ray Lewis
Delroy Lindo
Delroy Lindo
Delroy George Lindo is an English actor and theatre director. Lindo has been nominated for the Tony and Screen Actors Guild awards and has won a Satellite Award...
Dr. Susan McKinney Stewart
Susan McKinney Stewart
Susan Maria McKinney Steward was an American physician and author. She was the third African-American woman to earn a medical degree, and the first in New York state.-Biography:...
Gregory Meeks
Gregory Meeks
Gregory Weldon Meeks is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1998. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes most of Southeastern Queens including Jamaica, Laurelton, Rosedale, Saint Albans, Springfield Gardens, and Far Rockaway, as well as John F. Kennedy International...

, US Representative (D-NY)
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement"....
P. B. S. Pinchback
P. B. S. Pinchback
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback was the first non-white and first person of African American descent to become governor of a U.S. state...

, first African-American Governor (R-LA)
A. Philip Randolph
A. Philip Randolph
Asa Philip Randolph was a leader in the African American civil-rights movement and the American labor movement. He organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first predominantly Negro labor union. In the early civil-rights movement, Randolph led the March on Washington...
Hiram Rhodes Revels
Hiram Rhodes Revels
Hiram Rhodes Revels was the first African American to serve in the United States Senate. Because he preceded any African American in the House, he was the first African American in the U.S. Congress as well. He represented Mississippi in 1870 and 1871 during Reconstruction...

, first African-American Senator (R-MS)
Rodney Slater
Rodney Slater
Rodney Slater may refer to:*Rodney E. Slater , former United States Secretary of Transportation*Rodney Slater , member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band...

- Secretary of Transportation in Clinton Administration
Cicely Tyson
Cicely Tyson
Cicely Tyson is an American actress. A successful stage actress, Tyson is also known for her Oscar-nominated role in the film Sounder and the television movies The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and Roots....
Billy Dee Williams
Billy Dee Williams
William December "Billy Dee" Williams, Jr. is an American actor, artist, singer, and writer.-Early life:Williams was born in New York City, New York, the son of Loretta...
Stephanie Diana Wilson
Dave Winfield
Dave Winfield
David Mark Winfield is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. He is currently Executive Vice President/Senior Advisor of the San Diego Padres and an analyst for the ESPN program Baseball Tonight...
Roy Wilkins
Roy Wilkins
Roy Wilkins was a prominent civil rights activist in the United States from the 1930s to the 1970s. Wilkins' most notable role was in his leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ....

, civil rights leader & Executive Director of the NAACP

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