Henry McNeal Turner, American Minister and Politician
Henry McNeal Turner (February 1, 1834 - May 8, 1915) was an African-American minister, politician, and the 12th elected and consecrated bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). Born free in South Carolina, Turner learned to read and write and became a Methodist preacher with pastorates in St. Louis, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. During the American Civil War, Turner was appointed as the first black chaplain in the United States Colored Troops. Afterward, he was appointed to the Freedmen's Bureau. He settled in Macon, Georgia and was elected to the state legislature in 1868. Angered by the Democrats' regaining power and instituting Jim Crow laws in the late 19th century South, Turner began to support black nationalism and emigration of blacks to Africa. He thought it was the only way they could make free and independent lives for themselves. When he traveled to Africa, he was struck by the differences in the attitude of Africans who ruled themselves and had never known the degradation of slavery. He crossed denominational lines in the United States, building connections with black Baptists, for instance. He was known as a fiery orator and notably preached that God was black. He died in 1915 at the age of 81.
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