Ernest Lyon was an African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 minister, educator and diplomat.

While there are few accounts that Lyon was born in Honduras, most accounts have him being born in in Belize City, British Honduras. Lyon immigrated to the United States

United States

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

 in the 1870s. He received an A.B. degree from New Orleans University

New Orleans University

New Orleans University, was a historically black college that operated between 1873 and 1934 in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church and affiliated with a number of preparatory schools located in various parts of the state of Louisiana...

 and became a Methodist Episcopal in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1901, he became professor of church history at Morgan College and was among the founders of Maryland Industrial and Agricultural Institute, a school for American American youth. The civil rights leader Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington

Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...

 recommended Lyon to President Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

, who appointed him U.S. Minister and 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...

 in 1903. He served in this capacity until 1910. Following his diplomatic service, he returned to Baltimore to become the minister of Ames Methodist Episcopal Church.
William Davis Godman, A.H. Dexter Godman, Ines A. Godman. 1893. Gilbert Academy and Agricultural College, Winsted, Louisiana: Sketches and Incidents.

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois. 1917. The Crisis, Volumes 15 - 18 (pg. 29).

Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston.1910. The Negro in the New World.

John William Leonard, Albert Nelson Marquis (eds). Who's who in America, Volume 4

The Journal of Negro History