Chronology
This chronology provides some important dates and developments as a way of mapping out African American religion. It is not a complete history of African American religion. Some additional information related to important dates is available in the individual chapters. The books listed at the end of each chapter, along with the list of resources at the end of the book can help interested readers supplement the material available below.
1444 – Portuguese take Africans to Portugal for the purpose of enslavement
1536 – First African baptized in Roman Catholic Church
1619 – First Africans arrive in North America (Virginia)
1641 – Earliest recorded account of an African Church member (Massachusetts)
1669 – African first baptized into Lutheran Church
1701 – Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts attempts to convert slaves
1730s – First Great Awakening
1773 – One of the first black churches (Baptist) formed – Silver Bluff Church
1790–1830 – Second Great Awakening
1796 – Black Methodists form a church in New York
1807 – First African Presbyterian Church founded in Philadelphia
1816 – AME Church denomination formed
1822 – Liberia founded
1828 – Oblate Sisters of Providence is founded in Baltimore, Maryland
1829 – David Walker publishes Walker’s Appeal in Four Articles; a Preamble to the Colored Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America
1830 – Marie Laveau becomes Voodoo Queen
1831 – Work of Oblate Sisters of Providence recognized by the Pope
1834 – Black Baptist associations begin to form
1839 – Daniel Alexander Payne writes an article in which he acknowledges the existence of enslaved Africans who are non-theists.
1848 – “Zion” added to African Methodist Episcopal Church in America
1854 – James Healy ordained first African American priest
1863 – Emancipation Proclamation issued
1864 – St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church becomes first parish for African Americans
1865 – system of slavery ends in the United States
1866 – First state-wide Baptist convention forms
1866 – Prophet Cherry organizes the Church of the Living God, Pillar of Truth for All
Nations. During the 1940s, the organization moved to Philadelphia
1867 – Patrick Francis Healy becomes first African American Jesuit priest
1870 – Colored Methodist Episcopal Church formed
1874 – Patrick Healy becomes the first African American president of a Catholic
University (Georgetown University)
1875 – James A. Healy becomes the first African American Catholic Bishop (Portland,
Oregon)
1878 – Mathilda Beasley organizes the Third Order of St. Francis Catholic order for
African American nuns
1884 – Samuel David Ferguson becomes first African American bishop of the
Episcopal Church
1886 – Augustus Tolton ordained a Roman Catholic priest
1889 – Daniel Rudd begins conversation in Catholic Church on status of African Americans
1889 – Church of the Living God founded in Arkansas
1880 – Year of the first of five African American Catholic Congresses
1893 – William Saunders Crowdy begins having visions that result in the
formation of the Church of God and Saints of Christ
1894 – Julia A. Foote ordained a deacon in the AME Zion Church
1895 – National Baptist Convention, USA formed
1897 – Charles Mason and Charles Jones form the Church of God
1898 – Mary Small made an elder in the AME Zion Church
1900 – Reverdy C. Ransom organizes the Institutional Church and Social
Settlement House in Chicago that is dedicated to the Social Gospel
1906 – Asuza Street Pentecostal revival begins
1906 – Roman Catholic Church organizes the Catholic Board for Mission work
among Colored People
1907 – Mason’s Church of God renamed Church of God in Christ
1913 – Noble Drew Ali establishes Canaanite Temple
1913 – Mother Leafy Anderson develops Eternal Life Christian Spiritualist Church in Chicago
1915 – National Baptist Convention of America formed
1919 – Wentworth Arthur Matthew organizes the Commandment Keepers
Congregation
1920 – Mother Leafy Anderson founds Eternal Life Spiritualist Church in the Crescent City (New Orleans)
1923 – Father Hurley starts Universal Hagar’s Spiritual Church
1924 – Islamic Mission of America founded
1930 – Master Fard Muhammad appears in Detroit
1934 – Master Fard Muhammad disappears
1941 – Joseph Oliver Brown first African American Roman Catholic bishop in the
twentieth century
1941 – American Humanist Association founded
1946 – Francisco Mora first Santería priest in the United States
1947 – Lewis A. McGee founds Free Religious Fellowship
1948 – Rebecca Glover ordained in the AME Church
1954 – CME Church begins ordaining women
1955 – Civil Rights Movement begins
1956 – Colored Methodist Episcopal Church becomes Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
1959 – Walter King becomes first African American initiated into Santería priesthood (in Cuba)
1961 – Progressive Baptist Convention formed
1961 – First African American Santería priestess initiated
1963 – Four young girls killed in the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama
1963 – Five Percent Nation develops under the leadership of Clarence 13X
1963 – Martin L. King, Jr. issues the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
1963 – American Atheist founded
1964 – Malcolm X leaves Nation of Islam
1964 – First Santería drum dance in the United States
1965 – Malcolm X killed
1966 – National Committee of Black Churchmen formed
1968 – Civil Rights Movement under King ends with his assassination
1969 – Members of Ben Carter’s community begin to move from Liberia to Israel
1969 – NCBC issues a statement on Black Theology
1970s – Hip Hop culture begins to take shape in New York City
1970s–1980s – Decline in church membership for some denominations
1975 – The Honorable Elijah Muhammad dies and is replaced by Wallace
Muhammad
1975 – Wallace Muhammad begins to re-envision the Nation of Islam
1978 – Members of Abeta Hebrew Israel Culture Center begin moving to
Liberia
1978 – Louis Farrakhan re-establishes the Nation of Islam under the teachings of Elijah Muhammad
1978 – Freedom from Religion Foundation founded
1979 – Rapper’s Delight put hip hop and rap music on the map
1980s – Emergence of Christian rap groups
1980 – Kurtis Blow’s “The Breaks” becomes the first rap record to sell 1 million copies
1982 – “The Message” released and it gives shape to progressive rap music
1982-1985 – Influential movies related to hip hop, such as Wild Style and Style Wars are released
1983 – Ice-T plays a role in pioneering West Coast gangsta rap with “Cop Killer.”
1985 – By this date, hip hop culture is global in reach
1985 – Salt ‘n’ Pepa make their first appearance as a group
1985 – Stephen Wiley’s Bible Breaks first Christian rap album released
1986 – Rap-a-Lot Records founded in Houston, Texas
1987 – National Black Catholic Congress convenes
1987 – Public Enemy releases first album and Boodie Down Production’s Scott LaRock is murdered after the release of the group’s Criminal Minded
1987 – UGK formed in Port Arthur, Texas
1988 – Ghetto Boys release its first album
1988 – MTV gives rap music its own show (“Yo! MTV Raps”)
1988 – NWA releases Straight Outa Compton containing “Fuck Tha Police,” this is a major marker of gangsta rap’s development
1989 – Barbara Harris elected first African American woman bishop in Episcopal Church
1989 – African Americans for Humanism founded
1990 – African American Humanist Declaration developed
1990s – General movement of the black middle-class back into black churches
1990s – Growth in number of Megachurches, many marked by a “Gospel of Prosperity”
1991 – Scarface (of Ghetto Boys) releases Mr. Scarface is Back
1991 – Schism develops leading to development of Soka Gakkai International, USA
1992 – UGK releases first album, Too Hard to Swallow
1994 – Gotee Records (Christian Rap) founded
1995 – Queen Latifah wins a Grammy for “Best Rap Solo Performance”
1996 – UGK releases Ridin’ Dirty
1999 – Infidel Guy website created
2000 – Secular Student Alliance founded
2000 – Reverend Vashti Murphy McKenzie becomes first women consecrated asa bishop in the AME Church
2000 – Christian rap artists in the Catholic Church gain some notice
2005 – Slim Thug releases his first album, Already Platinum
2008 – One Accord DJ Alliance network of Christian DJ and Radio Announcers formed
2008 – Warith Deen Muhammad dies
2008 – Barack Obama elected the first black President of the United States
2009 – Kurtis Blow ordained
2010 – Bun B’s “Trill OG” is the first album in a good number of years to get The Source Magazine’s 5-mic award
2010 – Wyclef Jean announces his campaign for presidency of Haiti