Liele, George
c.1750-1828 · Contribution: 1773-1828
Baptist minister and missionary
Became 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 India
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Quick facts
- Born
- c. 1750, Virginia
- Active since
- 1773
- Category
- Religious & Spiritual Leadership
- Best known for
- First ordained Black Baptist preacher and America's first Baptist missionary
Impact on the world
Liele planted one of the oldest Black congregations in North America and then pioneered Black-led foreign missions, seeding a Jamaican Baptist movement that grew to over 20,000 by 1832.
Sources
- Baptist Press
1 more sources and references are available to members.
Related visionaries
Bryan, Andrew
1737-1812
Founded 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 people
Morris, Elias Camp
1855-1922
First president of the National Baptist Convention, today the largest historically Black Christian denomination in the United States
Taylor, Gardner Calvin
1918-2015
Co-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 tactics
Hosier, Harry “Black Harry”
c.1750-1806
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