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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