In Honor of Black History Month
19th Century Black Baptist Pastors That Served in MA
Courtesy of Diane Badger
Oscar Edward Denniston
1875-1942
Oscar E. Denniston was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and was educated in that city. Early in life he became drawn to mission work and was associated with a seaman’s mission in Kingston.
Leonard Andrew Grimes
1815-1874
Born in Leesburg, Virginia on November 9, 1815, Grimes was fortunate to grow up a free man. He witnessed the horrors of slavery in the South, and he devoted his life to assisting fugitive slaves and advocating abolitionism. Read More
William Jackson
1818-1900
William Jackson was born in 1818 in Virginia to free black parents. He was ordained September 16, 1841 at the Monumental Baptist Church in Philadelphia, having moved to Philadelphia in 1831.
Thomas Paul
1773-1831
Thomas Paul was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, the oldest of six brothers. He was educated for the ministry in Hollis, NH, at the Free Will Baptist Church. Ordained in 1804, he was instrumental in the 1805 founding the First African Baptist Church located on Joy Street Boston. Read More
Peter Randolph
1825-1897
Peter Randolph was an African American abolitionist, minister, and community leader. Born enslaved on a Virginia plantation, Peter Randolph and a group of 66 ex-slaves came to Boston in September 1847 from Petersburg, Virginia. Read More