Hosier, Harry “Black Harry”
c.1750-1806 · Contribution: 1781-1806
Methodist preacher
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 illiterate
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Quick facts
- Born
- c. 1750, near Fayetteville, North Carolina
- Active since
- 1781
- Category
- Religious & Spiritual Leadership
- Best known for
- First Black Methodist preacher in America
Impact on the world
Hosier proved a Black preacher could command the pulpit before white and Black audiences alike at the founding of American Methodism, drawing crowds so large that some historians trace the nickname 'Hoosier' to him.
An alternative history
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Sources
- Source lookupFind
United Methodist Church (UMC.org)
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