Chapter I: Preface

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The history of the relations existing between the Methodist Episcopal Church and the colored man—or rather, the status of the colored man within the Church—so far as known, has never been written. There are many cogent reasons why such a history should be written. From the time of the landing of a cargo of twenty African slaves at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1620, until this hour, the colored man has been the subject of much discussion. Touching his status as a man, there have always been two sides: one in favor of enslaving him, and the other objecting to enslaving him. Both sides of this vexed question have always been represented within the Church. The fact that there has always been a majority in the Church opposed to enslaving him; that therefore the Church early enlisted in the cause of his emancipation,—has kept up a continuous though bloodless warfare within the Church.

Thus the colored man early learned to love Methodism, and soon large numbers were brought into its communion. The emancipation and enfranchisement of the race did not put a quietus upon the agitation of the question. Many white and colored members are not conversant with the history of our Church touching this subject. It has always been a question to many, why men of the race within the Church have not been as ready to write the _actual facts_ in the case, as some of the race in other Churches have been to record many _half truths_ relating thereto. It is true that while the public eye and ear appear always open and attentive to anything written or spoken by those who can claim kin with Jefferson, Clay, Sumner, Lincoln, or Grant, there is an apparent unwillingness to give audience to those who have always been subjected to ostracism.

These lines are written because it is believed that our Church has had to suffer because only _one side_ of the story has been told by any person of the race, and in nearly, if not every instance, by those unfriendly to the relation the colored man has sustained to the Church; because some wrong impressions may be righted by the collation of facts that lay bare the glaring inaccuracies hitherto related concerning the imposition of the white members of the Church upon the colored; to show that, so far as the question goes, the heart of the Methodist Episcopal Church has always been right; and that, though errors may have been committed, they have been, in most instances, from the head and not from the heart of the Church; that it has come as near reaching the proper solution of the question, “What shall be done with the colored man?” as any other organization that has had to do with the question.

There has been no intentional reflection or false or prejudicial statement made herein. Many “_stubborn facts_” have been left out, that might have been properly included. Though the story has not been told with the polished language of a Chesterfield, nor the logical acuteness of Aristotle, nor with the erudite diction of one born in the college, it is hoped that some good, and _no harm_, may be accomplished thereby; those of the race who have not had the opportunity to know some facts herein related may be enabled to teach their children that there is no need of blushing when the past history of the Church touching this question is being recited; but that it is a benefit to the race, as well as an honor, to be numbered with the million and a half members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

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CONTENTS.

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CHAPTER I

PAGE.
BEFORE THE WAR, 17

CHAPTER II

THE COLOR-LINE SECESSIONS, 35

CHAPTER III

THE CRISIS—ITS CAUSE, 64

CHAPTER IV

THE COLORED PASTORATE, 83

CHAPTER V

THE RETROSPECT, 104

CHAPTER VI

DURING THE WAR, 116

CHAPTER VII

THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1864, 130

CHAPTER VIII

THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT WORK, 148

CHAPTER IX

THE COLORED BISHOP QUESTION, 167

CHAPTER X

WHY ASK FOR A BISHOP OF AFRICAN DESCENT? 192

CHAPTER XI

THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1884, 207

CHAPTER XII

THE PROBLEM, 230

CHAPTER XIII

THEORY AND PRACTICE—A GENERAL 259
DISCUSSION,

CHAPTER XIV

WHAT WILL THE HARVEST BE? 292

CHAPTER XV

UNION OF COLORED METHODISTS, 309

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ILLUSTRATIONS.

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REV. L. M. HAGOOD, M.D., _Frontispiece._

MORGAN COLLEGE, FOR COLORED STUDENTS, 48

NEW ORLEANS UNIVERSITY, MAIN BUILDING, 96

BENNETT SEMINARY, GREENSBORO, N.C., 144

REV. A. E. P. ALBERT, D.D., 192

MEHARRY MEDICAL COLLEGE, NASHVILLE, 240
TENN.,

ART DEPARTMENT OF CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY, 288

GAMMON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, LIBRARY 312
BUILDING,

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