- Allen, RichardFounded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first independent Black religious denomination in the United States; became its first bishop1760-1831
- Bowman, Sister Thea (Bertha Elizabeth)Singer, scholar, and evangelist who became a leading national voice for Black Catholic culture and intercultural understanding within the American Catholic Church1937-1990
- Bryan, AndrewFounded and pastored First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia, for 24 years, building it from an initial 67 members in 1788 into a congregation of nearly 2,800 by 1831 despite enduring imprisonment and public whipping for preaching to enslaved people1737-1812
- Cone, James H.Systematic theology; founded Black liberation theology, arguing that the Christian gospel is centrally about God's identification with the oppressed; author of 'Black Theology and Black Power' (1969), 'A Black Theology of Liberation' (1970), and 'The Cross and the Lynching Tree' (2011)1938-2018
- Crummell, AlexanderBecame one of the first Black Americans ordained an Episcopal priest, founded St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. — the first independent Black Episcopal congregation in the city — and in 1897 co-founded the American Negro Academy, the first major organization supporting Black scholarship in America1819-1898
- Delille, Henriette (Henriette Díaz)Founded the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans in 1842, the second-oldest surviving African American Catholic religious order in U.S. history1813-1862
- Divine, Father (George Baker)Founded the International Peace Mission movement, an early and aggressive force for racial desegregation decades before the mainstream civil rights movementc.1876-1965
- Dorsey, Thomas AndrewKnown as 'the Father of Gospel Music' for fusing blues musical structure with sacred lyrics; co-founded the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses1899-1993
- Farrakhan, KhadijahServed for more than four decades as the “First Lady of the Nation of Islam,” working alongside her husband, Minister Louis Farrakhan, to rebuild the organization after 1977, serving as its first National Secretary, and founding Newel Apparel to design the official uniforms worn by the Nation of Islam's women's auxiliary1935-2026
- Garnet, Henry HighlandDelivered the militant 1843 “Call to Rebellion” speech urging enslaved Americans to rise against their enslavers, later became the first Black American to preach a sermon inside the U.S. House of Representatives in 1865, and served as U.S. Minister to Liberia1815-1882
- Garvey, Marcus MosiahDeveloped a theology of a Black God and co-founded the African Orthodox Church; fused Christian religious practice with Black nationalist organizing in the largest Black mass movement in American history1887-1940
- Grace, Charles Manuel 'Daddy' (Marcelino Manuel da Graca)Founded the United House of Prayer for All People, building it into a financially self-sustaining Black religious denomination that preached to integrated congregations across the segregated South decades before the civil rights movement1881-1960
- Greeley, JuliaKnown as Denver's 'Angel of Charity' for decades of secret nighttime charity to the city's poor; the only African American laywoman among six current Black candidates for Catholic sainthoodc.1833-1918
- Hall, Prathia LauraAnnCredited as the originator of the phrase “I have a dream,” spoken during a 1962 prayer vigil that Martin Luther King Jr. attended and later asked her permission to echo in his own preaching, while serving as one of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's first female field secretaries and later becoming a pioneering Baptist minister and womanist theologian1940-2002
- Harris, Barbara ClementineBecame the first woman consecrated a bishop in the 500-year history of the worldwide Anglican Communion when she was ordained suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts in 1989, breaking a barrier that had stood across the Communion's more than 165 member countries1930-2020
- Haynes, LemuelBecame the first Black American ordained by a mainstream Protestant denomination when the Congregational church ordained him in 1785, and went on to lead a mostly white Vermont congregation for 30 years while authoring some of the earliest antislavery writings by an African American author1753-1833
- Hosier, Harry “Black Harry”Became the first Black Methodist preacher in America, delivering the first sermon by a Black person to a Methodist congregation in 1781 and the first by a Black person to an all-white congregation in 1784, and was widely regarded as one of the most gifted orators of his era despite being entirely illiteratec.1750-1806
- Jackson, MahaliaKnown as 'the Queen of Gospel'; first gospel recording artist to achieve mainstream commercial success and international touring success while refusing to ever sing secular music1911-1972
- Jakes, Thomas Dexter Sr. (T.D.)Founded The Potter's House, one of the largest megachurches in the United States; named one of Time magazine's 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America1957-
- Jones, AbsalomFirst African American ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church; founded the first Black Episcopal congregation in the United States1746-1818
- King, Martin Luther Jr.Baptist ministry and nonviolent civil rights leadership grounded in Christian theology and Gandhian nonviolence; sermons, speeches, and writings including 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' (1963) and the 'I Have a Dream' speech (1963)1929-1968
- Lange, Mary Elizabeth (Elizabeth Clarisse)Founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence in 1829, the first permanent Catholic religious order for women of African descent in U.S. history; first African American superior generalc.1789-1882
- Liele, GeorgeBecame the first ordained African American Baptist preacher in 1775 and, upon emigrating to Jamaica in 1782, is widely credited as America's first Baptist missionary — leaving to evangelize abroad a full decade before William Carey, often called the father of the modern missionary movement, departed for Indiac.1750-1828
- Mason, Charles HarrisonHoliness-Pentecostal ministry; founded and led the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), organizing it as a Pentecostal denomination after the Azusa Street Revival1864-1961
- McKenzie, Vashti MurphyBecame the first woman elected bishop in the more than 200-year history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2000, later becoming the first woman to serve as Titular Head of the denomination and, in 2021, President and General Secretary of the National Council of Churches1947-present
- Mohammed, Warith DeenReformed the Nation of Islam into a mainstream Sunni Muslim community following his father Elijah Muhammad's death in 1975, guiding hundreds of thousands of followers away from its founding racial theology and toward orthodox Islamic practice, and in 1992 became the first Muslim to deliver an invocation before the United States Senate1933-2008
- Morris, Elias CampFirst president of the National Baptist Convention, today the largest historically Black Christian denomination in the United States1855-1922
- Muhammad, ElijahLed the Nation of Islam from 1934 until his death in 1975, building it from a small Detroit congregation into a nationwide organization with tens of thousands of members, a network of independently owned farms, businesses, schools, and a major newspaper, while mentoring Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali1897-1975
- Payne, Daniel AlexanderFirst African American president of a college in the United States; transformed the AME Church's ministry into a formally educated clergy and helped found Wilberforce University1811-1893
- Seymour, William J.Pentecostal ministry; led the Azusa Street Revival (1906-1909) in Los Angeles and published 'The Apostolic Faith' newspaper, spreading the doctrine of Spirit baptism evidenced by speaking in tongues1870-1922
- Shuttlesworth, Frederick LeeCo-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957 and led the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, organizing the 1963 Birmingham Campaign that Dr. King credited as decisive in securing passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, while surviving multiple assassination attempts including the 1956 bombing of his church parsonage1922-2011
- Taylor, Gardner CalvinCo-founded the Progressive National Baptist Convention in 1961 after a contested National Baptist Convention presidential election tied to support for Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights tactics1918-2015
- Thurman, Howard WashingtonTheologian and mystic whose writings and personal mentorship directly shaped Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent philosophy; co-founded the first major interracial, interdenominational church in the United States1899-1981
- Tolton, Augustus (John Augustine)First publicly recognized African American Catholic priest in the United States; now a candidate for Catholic sainthood1854-1897
- Toussaint, PierreFormerly enslaved New York hairdresser whose lifelong philanthropy helped fund Old St. Patrick's Cathedral and the city's first Black Catholic school; a leading candidate to become the first African American Catholic saint1766-1853
- Truth, Sojourner (Isabella Baumfree)Took on a divinely-inspired new name and identity in 1843 to become an itinerant preacher, building a decades-long ministry that fused evangelism with abolitionism and women's rights advocacyc.1797-1883
- Turner, Henry McNealFirst Southern bishop of the AME Church; first Black U.S. Army chaplain; leading late 19th-century advocate of Black emigration to Africa and Pan-African religious expansion1834-1915
- Varick, JamesFounded the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and, in 1822, became its first bishop after leading a two-decade struggle to free the denomination from white Methodist Episcopal control, building what became one of the largest historically Black denominations in the United States1750-1827
- X, Malcolm (el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz)Rose to become the Nation of Islam's most prominent spokesperson before breaking with the organization in 1964, converting to Sunni Islam, and completing the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca1925-1965