Black History Month: 7 pioneering African American clergy

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, February 14, 2021

Gowan Pamphlet

The Historic First Baptist Church of Williamsburg, Virginia. Originally founded in 1776 by a Baptist preacher and former slave named Gowan Pamphlet. | Facebook/First Baptist Church 1776 Williamsburg Virginia

In 1772, Gowan Pamphlet became the first African American to be ordained by an American denomination while still being owned as a slave by a widowed tavern keeper.

The ordination came with the permission of his master. Pamphlet helped found a Baptist church in the Williamsburg, Virginia area that remains to this day, known as Historic First Baptist Church.

“1793 proved to be a decisive year for Pamphlet. In rapid succession he survived accusations of helping to plan a slave insurrection, gained admission for his church into the Dover Baptist Association, and was granted his personal freedom," Colonial Williamsburg, the largest outdoor living museum in the country, explains on its website.