Celebrate Black History Month
Sojourner Truth
1797-1883
"A former slave, Sojourner Truth became an outspoken advocate for abolition, temperance, and civil and women's rights in the nineteenth century. Her work earned her an invitation to meet President Abraham Lincoln in 1864."4
In the early 1830's, she participated in religious revivals and became a charismatic speaker. She never learned to read or write but dictated her autobiography—The Narrative of Sojourner Truth—which brought her national recognition. She spoke nationally and helped slaves escape to freedom. In the late 1860's she collected thousands of signatures on a petition to provide former slaves with land, though Congress never took action. 5
Hiram Rhodes Revels
"Hiram Revels (R-MS) became the first African American senator in 1870. Born in North Carolina in 1827, Revels attended Knox College in Illinois and later served as minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland. He raised two black regiments during the Civil War and fought at the battle of Vicksburg in Mississippi. The Mississippi state legislature sent him to the U.S. Senate during Reconstruction, where he became an outspoken opponent of racial segregation. Although Revels served in the Senate for just a year, he broke new ground for African Americans in Congress." 6
William Seymour
“William J. Seymour (1870–1922) was one of the most influential men in the birthing of the modern Pentecostal movement. His leadership and participation in the Azusa Street Revival at the beginning of the 1900s sparked the growth of a global reawakening of the ministry of the Holy Spirit and a large missionary sending movement.” 7 The Azusa Street Revival has influenced many leaders in the Body of Christ over the past century.
1. Women's History: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sojourner-truth
2. Ibid
3. www.senate.gov https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/h_multi_sections_and_teasers/Photo_Exhibit_African_American_Senators.htm
4. Ihopkc.org:https://www.ihopkc.org/malachiproject/biography/william-j-seymour
