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Henry McNeal Turner
Henry McNeal Turner ranks as not only one
of AME’s more outspoken bishops, but one of the leading voices
for African-American rights during the late 19th
Century. He was born free on February 1, 1834 in Newberry
Court House, South Carolina. Family oral history claims that
his father was the son of an African king. He learned to read
while working as a janitor for a law firm in Abbeville, South
Carolina in 1849. After being licensed to preach in the
Methodist Church South in 1853, Turner joined the AME Church
in 1858. Turner was among the various voices lobbying
President Lincoln to enlist blacks in the Union Army.
In
1863, Turner became the first black chaplain in the Union
Army. After the war, he returned to Georgia and began
organizing AME churches, including Trinity Church, now called
Turner Chapel in honor of the future bishop. The late 1860s
found Turner in the political arena. As one of the organizers
of the Georgia Republican Party, he served as postmaster in
Macon and later was elected state representative. Resented by
white representatives, Turner and 14 others were expelled from
their seats. However, the U.S. Congress restored them to
their seats later.
In 1880, he became the first southern
bishop elected in the AME Church. Using his position, Turner
attacked white racists in the newspapers and speeches and
advocated his support of the “Back to Africa” movement.
Turner ordained the first woman deacon in the AME Church,
although he was later pressured to rescind the appointment.
In a speech at the 1st Black Baptist convention in
1895, Turner proclaimed, “We have every right to believe that
God is a Negro.” He believed that people needed to see a
reflection of themselves in their God. To Turner, the black
church had a role to play in developing racial pride. He
played a major role in establishing churches in Africa. Turner
never backed down from speaking out on the abuses heaped onto
Blacks of his time. Though his vocal opposition made him a
target for personal attacks, Turner was considered a voice for
African-Americans in the mold of Douglass, Washington, and
DuBois. Henry McNeal Turner died on May 8, 1915. His funeral
was held in Atlanta, GA and was attended by over 25,000
mourners.
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"Every race of people
since time began who have attempted to
describe their world by words, or by
paintings, or by carvings have conveyed the
idea that the GOD who made them and shaped
their destines was symbolized in themselves"
--Henry McNeal Turner, Voice of Missions,
February 1898
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