An "International Town Well" for Black Churches -- Connecting, Communicating
Inspirational Stories and Sharing Creative Resources for Global Missions.
 

Whenever a church decides to send a mission team to another country, there is always the question --
"But why are we sending a mission team to another part of the world when there
are crack addicts and other dire needs within a square mile of our own church?"

- Rich History of African American Involvement in Global Missions -

- Historic Hindrances to African American Involvement in Global Missions -

   Slavery. Civil War. Reconstruction / Fight for Civil Rights / Racial Disturbances. Mission Boards not Sponsoring Black Missionaries. Jim Crow. Migration of 5.6 Million Blacks to the North. Great Depression (Blacks Hired Last, Fired First). Recession...

  There have been many reasons why more African Americans have not been historically involved in world missions. America's Black church has been focused upon its own quest for liberty and justice. Currently, there is an unprecedented interest in global missions in African American churches. Economic prosperity among African Americans is at an all-time high.  The average teenager on the streets of Watts, Harlem or DC has more consumer knowledge than the presidents of most developing nations. What if the next generation caught the vision for Global Missions? Fields "Black" for the Harvest. For such a time as this...

   By the way, did you know that the largest church in Europe was started and is pastored by a Black man? Pastor Sunday Adelaja (Kiev, Ukraine, 25,000+ members, 99.9% White members). Their web site is linked below...

- 10/40 Window -

   The 10/40 Window refers to the area of the world between latitudes 10 degrees and 40 degrees north of the equator (see map below) covering North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Many of the world’s least-reached people live in this area, most of darker hue of skin.

  The Physical Need in the 10/40 Window . . .

...There are over 400 mega cities (cities with more than 1 million people) in the world today.  300 of these cities lie within the Window.
...The Window contains the majority of the world's least evangelized mega cities.  Of the top 50 cities on this list, all 50 cities are in the 10/40 Window.
...More than 97% out the poorest of the poor live in the Window.
...On average, people living in the 10/40 Window exist on less than $500 per person per year.  

"What could be worse than being born without sight? Being born with sight and no vision." Helen Keller
 

_________________________________________________________

Feel free to share this link with other churches involved in Intercultural Missions.

__________________________________________________________

D I D   Y O U   K N O W ?
"Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses..." Hebrews 12:1

~ Let's take a look at some of the folks cheering us on at this moment ~

1581 -- Peter Claver was born. From Verdu in Catalonia, Spain Claver became known as "Slave of the Blacks" and "Slave of the Slaves" because of his untiring evangelistic outreach to those in bondage. A farmer's son, he studied at the University of Barcelona and, at age 20, became a Jesuit priest. Influenced by Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez, Claver went to South America as a missionary. He ministered to slaves physically and spiritually when they arrived in Cartegena, Colombia, converting an estimated 300,000. For 40 years he worked for humane treatment on American plantations. Claver organized charitable societies among the Spanish in America similar to those organized in Europe by Vincent de Paul. Claver said of the slaves, "We must speak to them with our hands by giving, before we try to speak to them with our lips." Peter Claver died on September 8, 1654 at Cartegena, Colombia -- of natural causes.
1797 -- Birth of John Day, a "free person of color" who emigrated to Liberia in 1830 as a participant in the American Colonization Movement. In 1836 he became a missionary for the Triennial Convention of the American Baptists.
1823 -- Betsey Stockton, a young black woman in company with 13 white missionaries, was on board a ship rounding the southern tip of South America. The missionaries were on their way to the Sandwich Islands (present-day Hawaii). They had left New Haven, Connecticut in November, sent out by the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, an agency at the forefront of American Protestantism's burgeoning interest in foreign missions. Betsey Stockton was in the second group of missionaries to go to Hawaii, the first having arrived two years before. The trip took five months by sea with no stopovers. Like others on board, Stockton kept a journal of the voyage and of her first couple of months in Hawaii.
1840 -- George Brown, who established the Heddington mission station in Liberia, reports organizing a church among the Pessah people as a result of converting two kings -- Baopgo and Peter along with 34 of their people after a "God-palaver."
1847 -- African-American Robert Hill had been appointed to accompany some white missionaries to Africa for the purpose of assisting them. On December 17, 1846, they had sailed for the coast of Africa, from Providence, Rhode Island. On this day, February 8, they arrived in Monrovia, Liberia.

King Leopold II

1885 -- In the 1880s, as the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. Carrying out a genocidal plundering of the Congo, he looted its rubber, brutalized its people, and ultimately slashed its population by ten million--all the while shrewdly cultivating his reputation as a great humanitarian. Two courageous black Americans, George Washington Williams (Baptist minister, lawyer, member of Ohio Legislature) and William Sheppard (missionary), risked much to bring evidence of the Congo atrocities to the outside world.

-- Feel free to review the Bibliography and Philosophy on Global Missions.
 

-- 1. -- Boston Recorder (April 14, 1821) -- Liberia Mission. "Lott Carey, and Collin Teague, two colored men, preachers, with their families, sailed from Norfolk in January last, in the brig Nautilus with their Bibles, and utensils for necessary labor. The Baptist Board supplied them with many articles of convenience and comfort, and provisions were supplied by government."

-- Rare February 19, 1829 newspaper, Boston Recorder about the death of African American missionary, Lott Carey. Title of Article: News From Liberia. "We learn from a vessel arrived in port yesterday from Liberia, (the Am. colony on the coast of Africa,) that a French vessel being cruising off that place in quest of slaves, the authorities were making preparation to attack her, & in preparing cartridges for that purpose, fire accidentally communicated to the ammunition, which exploded. The Gov. (Lott Carey) with several principal men of the place were killed, & most of the town was destroyed." -- Another Bristol (England) paper of the same day gives the account thus: "On the 18th Nov. last, an expedition was preparing by the American settlers at that place, to destroy a French slave ship and factory at Digby, a place abut 30 miles distant. when, during the night, the magazine in which they were making cartridges, blew up, and horrible to relate, Mr Lott Carey, the Governor, and nine of his people were destroyed...Lott Carey was a worthy and useful Baptist preacher, himself a colored man; and when the lamented Ashmun returned to this country, he left the colony in charge of Carey, as acting Governor. Dr Randall has gone out to succeed Ashmun; but he could not have arrived at the time of the disaster."

-- -- BACKGROUND ON LOTT CAREY: Carey was a pioneer missionary to Africa. Born a slave in Virginia, he was converted to Christianity while working in Richmond. He purchased his freedom, became first a lay exhorter and then a licensed Baptist preacher. He went to Liberia in the 1820s as one of the first American missionaries to that continent and one of the founders of that nation.
--  Background on Jehudi Ashmun was an American agent who headed the Liberian colony from 1822-1828. Jehudi was a native of Champlain, New York. His wife died shortly after their arrival in Monrovia in 1822; and he died on August 25, 1828, at the age of 35, and was buried in New Haven, Connecticut. It was the African "fever", malaria or yellow fever that killed Ashmun and his wife.

-- "Sabbath School Teachers' Second Book, Containing a Harmony of the Four Gospels and Questions on the History, Miracles, Discourses and Parables of our Lord, With Explanations of the Most Difficult Parts of the Text." by Rev. J.J. Matthias. New York: B. Waugh and T. Mason for the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1832 Hardcover, 3-1/2" x 5-1/4", 234 pp. A rare Sunday school lesson book from 1832, written by Reverend J.J. Matthias and published for the Sunday School Youth Library of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Includes double page map in rear of book of "Countries mentioned by Moses".
BACKGROUND: Rev. J.J. Matthias was a Methodist Episcopal minister of the Philadelphia conference, who served as Governor of Bassa Cove during the 19th century African colonization. In 1837, the Rev JJ Matthias, a Superannuated Minister of the Philadelphia Conference of the M.E. Church, was appointed Governor of the settlement of Bassa Cove, Liberia by the Colonization Society, and came to Liberia in the schooner "Charlotte Harper."  In the same vessel, besides the Governor's family, consisting of Mrs. Matthias and Miss Annesley, Dr. Johnson, of Kingston, N.Y., came out as physician for the same place; Dr. S.M.E. Gokeen, missionary physician of the M.E. Church, and two female teachers, Miss Ann Wilkins and Miss L.A. Beers.  After spending some time at Monrovia, Governor Matthias and family and Dr. Johnson went down to the Cove, and were soon settled.  Mr. Matthias proved a thoroughgoing, efficient and successful Governor.  The people loved and esteemed him.  Though a minister, and a good and holy man, yet he organized and kept up a well-trained little regiment of brave soldiers, reviewed them himself every month, and such a display and demonstration as they made most effectually prevented the natives from attempting any hostilities.  There was no war in Governor Matthias's day.

    Mr. and Mrs. Payne (most probably Bishop Daniel A. Payne, 1811-1867) are now in America. Mr. and Mrs. Perkins are about to sail with Capt. Lawlin. The harvest is still plentiful, but the laborers are few. The Presbyterian missionaries are pretty well I believe. Mrs. Altruior (sp?) is about to return to America. Mr. Wilson and Lady have just returned from a trip down the coast. In your last letter you wished to know if I had even seen a deaf and dumb person in this country. I have not even heard of and when I mentioned it to the natives they seemed surprised. Since I commenced writing a large  ?  ?  was brought into the yard. I should suppose him to be upwards of 50 years old. He was shot by one of the colonists not far from Mt. Vaughan. He would be quite a curiosity to you all. I wish your children could see it. It is now rice season with us. The natives have cultivated an abundance of rice. The second rainy season has just commenced which generally lasts about two months. We have much more dry weather than they have in Monrovia. I shall be happy to hear from you and family. My best regards to them. I request an interest in your prayers that I may be faithful to my charge. Your humble servant, E. M. Thomson

    Francis Burn's first appointment was as a teacher at Cape Palmas. He joined the Liberia mission conference in 1838, and from 1840 till 1842 was an assistant on the Bassa circuit. During 1843 and the early part of 1844 he was engaged at Monrovia, but sailed for the United States, and was ordained deacon in Brooklyn, New York, 16 June, and, later on the same day, crossed over to New York and was ordained elder in the Mulberry street church, Bishop Janes officiating. In the same year he returned to Liberia. The next session of the conference appointed him presiding elder of the Cape Palmas district. In 1851, by order of the missionary board, he was detailed to open an academy at Monrovia and superintend the mission there. In 1858 he visited the United States and was ordained missionary bishop at Perry, Wyoming County, New York, Bishops Janes and Baker officiating. Almost immediately he returned to Africa, and labored there for five years until his health failed, he returned to the United States by the advice of a physician, and died shortly afterward. This image was published in an American Methodist religious and literary journal in 1859. It is in excellent condition and shows Bishop Burns in formal dress, coat and tie. The portrait was engraved by J.C. Buttre from an ambrotype photograph taken by Mathew Brady, one of the best-known early American photographers, celebrated for his portraits of politicians and for his photographs of the American Civil War. The engraving is accompanied by several pages of text describing the life and career of Rev. Burns and describing his mission in Africa. These old prints are renowned for their detail as well as their historical accuracy.

-- Boston Recorder (December 16, 1829) -- Long article about the Mission to Africa, "..proceeded to present a brief outline of the facts respecting the Colony in Liberia. Its original design under the patronage of the American Colonization Society was to locate a settlement of free blacks from the United States, who should be assisted in establishing a civil government of their own choice, and whose influence should be extended to counteract and destroy the odious traffic in slaves. It was commenced about ten years since, and although a considerable loss of life has been sustained by those who have emigrated from our shores, it has been far less than the mortality in our other new colonies, and much less than took place in the settlements in our own country, at James Town in Virginia, and at Plymouth in Massachusetts. It was in reference to the Colony in Africa that the lamented young man, Samuel J. Mills, lost his life about eleven years since; and to him, as having originated this mission, is the Christian world much indebted. Amongth (sic) those who fell a sacrifice in this enterprise was the amiable and judicious Ashmun, who in giving life and form & system to the polity of Liberia, has left an imperishable name. His successor, after a short career, has also deceased. It is, however, hoped, said Mr. Evarts, that by avoiding the same customs, and exposure to the climate, which the  lessons of experience had taught to be hazardous, the lives of future emigrants may be prolonged..."

--4. Scarce copy of "The New York Missionary Magazine & Repository of Religious Intelligence" (1801). Very early published reports of missionary activity in America. Published by Cornelius Davis, New York City, 1801. The New York Missionary magazine was the first appearance of Missionary information and reports published in the New Country, America. This is a bound run of Volume II, the second year, of the New York Missionary Magazine. Contains all sorts of reports on missionaries and their works in the Americas and around the world. Includes reports relating to American Indians, the decaying of morals in America (this in 1801!), reports on Females and Female Asylums, the Debate about Sending Missionaries to Africa, and much more. Original leather covers, 5.5" x 8.5", 480 pages.

--7. Extremely rare copy of "The Methodist Magazine", 1798. Printed by Henry Tuckniss, 575 pages. This magnificent volume covers the entire year of 1798 with original sermons, experiences, letters, poetry and other religious pieces, together with instructive and useful extracts from different authors. There are a number of original sermons and letters by John Wesley, an article by Thomas Coke and two comprehensive articles entitled, "A Summary View of the Slave Trade". There is an overview of the deaths of Charles Wesley, Martha Rugar, John Nelson, Simon Miller, Bishop Gardner, Ogburn Carman, and John Dickens. There are interesting letters to and from Bishop Francis Asbury (first Protestant bishop in North America). Many A.M.E. churches bear his name.
-- A little background on Francis Asbury: Asbury preached in every state. In Virginia, he preached often in Loudoun and Fauquier counties and in the Shenandoah Valley and Piedmont regions. He had no home. He relied on the hospitality of others. When Asbury was 26, his ship from England docked at Philadelphia. He wrote in his journal: "When I came near the American shore, my very heart melted within me, to think from whence I came, where I was going, and what I was going about. But I felt my mind open to the people, and my tongue loosed to speak. I feel that God is here." Asbury was one of several itinerant preachers in early America, but what set him apart was his companion, Harry Hosier, a black man, not a servant but an equal. In May 1781 in Fairfax County, Asbury preached, followed by Hosier. Asbury wrote of the service in his journal: "This circumstance was new, and the white people looked on with attention." Hosier's presence might account for some African American Methodist churches taking the name Asbury, but there was another reason. In 1783 -- the year the Colonies received their liberty from England -- Asbury, in Petersburg, Va., wrote that he and other ministers 'all agreed in the spirit of African liberty.' At times Asbury would leave his host if he saw a black person being mistreated or ask an inhospitable person whether he could stay in the "Negro quarter." The word "slave" was not in Asbury's vocabulary. Just before Christmas in 1797, he wrote, "We should not wondering ask, Where did this or that nation of people come from? either [American] Indians or Africans." Asbury's work took him far afield. He crossed the Allegheny mountains sixty times, often through trackless underbrush. No house provided shelter at night. His rheumatism, worsened by repeated drenchings and cold winds, left his feet grotesquely swollen; someone lifted him onto his horse, his dangling feet unable to get through the stirrups.

Maria Fearing  Althea Edmiston

Incapacitated as well by asthma and pleurisy in the last two years of his life Francis Asbury had to be carried like a child everywhere. When urged to give up traveling he replied that "Come" had always been the operative word he used with younger preachers, never "Go." (some of this background information is from an article by Eugene Scheel, Washington Post) <-- 8. Presbyterian missionaries from the US to the Belgian Congo in Africa at the turn of the last century. Maria Fearing is documented as a leader of the Luebo Station home for girls around 1910, and Althea Brown Edmiston was in service about 20 years later. About this time over half of the Presbyterian missionaries to the Congo were African American and were involved in caring for native Africans who had been oppressed by the rubber trade.

He had rifles smuggled through the Sudan and Massawa, both under hostile Ottoman rule, obliged Protestant missionaries to cast cannon for him, and built roads for his artillery. He also sought to develop relations with Europe, to exchange embassies with foreign powers, and to import gunsmiths and other craftsmen. He accordingly wrote to Queen Victoria, but his letter remained unanswered, so he decided to force the British government to listen by arresting the British envoy and other Europeans, the provoking the British government in 1867 into sending an expedition against him. The British advanced rapidly against his mountain fortress of Magdala. Tewodros, unable to repulse the invaders, killed himself on 13 April 1868. Produced by Eugen Lulves of Hanover, identified verso by a backplate.

-- 11. First Edition copy of the 1858 book, Day Dawn in Africa or Progress of the Protestant Episcopal Mission of Cape Palmas, West Africa by Mrs. Anna M. Scott, New York, 1858. Published by the Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge, Astor Place, NY. 312 pages, illustrated.

--12. The African Repository and Colonial Journal: In March 1825, the American Colonization Society began a quarterly, The African Repository and Colonial Journal, edited by Ralph Randolph Gurley (1797-1872), who headed the Society until 1844. Conceived as the society's organ, the journal promoted both colonization and Liberia. Among the items printed were articles about Africa, letters of praise, official dispatches stressing the prosperity and steady growth of the colony, information about emigrants, and lists of donors. This collection has three issues (February, March and April, 1838) -- An example of the information in these journals, "The state of morals in the colonies is emphatically of a high order. Sabbath-breaking, drunkenness, profanity, and quarrelling are vices almost unknown in Liberia. A temperance society formed in 1834 numbered in a few weeks after its organization 500 members, at the time more than one-fifth of the whole population...There are eighteen churches on Liberia, viz: at Monrovia 4, New Georgia 2, Caldwell 2, Millsburgh 2, Edina 2, Bassa Cove 3, Marshall 1, Cape Palmas 2. Of these, 8 are Baptist, 6 Methodist, 3 Presbyterian, and 1 Episcopalian...Seven hundred of the colonists, or one-fifth of the whole population, are professed Christians, in good standing with the churches with which they are connected. As might be expected, where so large a proportion of the people is pious, the general tone of society is religious...A monthly newspaper is published in Monrovia. The articles in this paper afford good testimony of the general intelligence of the people, and reflect great credit upon the talented editor, a colored man."

--13. Aggrey of Africa, a book published in 1929 by the Student Christian Movement. An account of the life and work of Christian educationalist, Dr. James E K  Aggrey (1875-1927). Born at Ahamabu, Gold Coast (now Ghana). At age 8, James entered the Wesleyan Methodist school at Cape Coast. Exceptional teachers quickly recognized their exceptional student. He reveled in the books and the accoutrements of learning. He feasted on knowledge. Every day at school was an adventure. Every day away was a torment of waiting in anticipation of more worldly revelations. It was apparent to all, including James’ mother and father, that he was indeed a scholar with a penchant for learning that far outstripped the modest teaching institutions found in the Gold Coast at the close of the 19^th century. Latin and Greek beckoned, formal English and French called to him, mathematics and the sciences tantalized him and frustration enveloped him. Finally, in early 1898 "opportunity knocked" for James Aggrey. African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Bishop John Bryan Small of Barbados, visited the Gold Coast seeking educationally qualified young men to go to America for training, men who would ultimately return to the Gold coast in missionary service. On 10 July, 1898, James Aggrey set sail on the S. S. Accra for England and thence on to America. Aggrey settled in Salisbury, North Carolina, to attend Livingstone College, an institution sponsored by the African Methodist Episcopalian Zion Church, where he graduated with a B.A. 1902. He excelled in the classics. Plato, Cicero, Virgil, Homer and others became his intellectual friends. He excelled at debate. The writings of Demosthenes and Herodotus were consumed for relaxation and fun. Astronomy, logic, chemistry, physics and comparative literature were consumed as soon as they were offered. Then on to Aeschylus and Tacitus, philosophy, comparative religions, economics and political science. Aggrey never met a subject or book that he did not enjoy!

   In May 1927 he went on leave, intending to write the dissertation needed to complete the Ph.D., but died suddenly in New York in July of that year. His life has been used as an example to African schoolchildren of what they can achieve through education, and of the necessity for cooperation between the races. Some "Aggreyisms": "I am proud of my color; whoever is not proud of his color is not fit to live." and "Laughing is the way to go through life. It is the positive side of Christ's law of non -resistance." The book is in good condition, the dust jacket has light soiling as shown and a few small tears to the top of the dust jacket. Nine illustrations.
-- Also we have a copy of Dr. Aggrey's  book translated into the Thai language, which gives a sense of how far his influence reached.

--14. The Life and Work of Jacob Kenoly, published in 1912 by the Methodist Book Concern of Cincinnati, Ohio -- with 10 full-page photos. The 160-page volume was written by C. C. Smith and was printed for the author. Here is the inspiring story of African American Jacob Kenoly, a son of slaves who through a meager education became a preacher and did missionary work in Liberia. From the Introduction: "The study the writer has made of the letters and records of Jacob Kenoly placed in his hands to aid him in the preparation of this sketch, has blessed his life. He gives the story to others hoping it will bless them as it has blessed him!"
Chapter highlights include: Early Life, School Days at the Southern Christian Institute, Leaving the Institute and Landing at Monrovia, Liberia, Locating at Schieffelin, First Building Erected and Incidents Connected with the Growth of the Work, Jacob Kenoly's Vision for Liberia, Closing Days and Death, Characteristics, etc...

--15. Ticket For The National Ministers' Wives Association (NMWA), Richmond, Virginia, February 25, 1943. Patron ticket to performance of "Heaven Bound" a religious drama given at Second Baptist Church. Sponsored by Group No. 2 of the NMWA. Nice African American regional item documenting the work of the international alliance of minister's wives and widows founded by Elizabeth Coles Bouey in Richmond (1941). The group's aim was Christian fellowship and the sponsorship of missionary work in Africa. "Heaven Bound" was first performed in Atlanta's Big Bethel AME Church in 1930. Fair to good, printed on card stock, soiled and rubbed edges...

BACKGROUND: Elizabeth Coles Bouey was a member of many interdenominational and inter-racial. She was a missionary, teacher, organizer, speaker, mother, wife and friend who influenced the lives of countless women and children. Her friends were a legion. The rich, the poor, the high and the low all loved her alike. The story of Mrs. Bouey's career goes back to June 15, 1911, the special night of her graduation, as valedictorian of her class, from the Armstrong High School in Richmond, Virginia, when Elizabeth Coles announced her plan to be a missionary. She made this early decision because her parents were missionaries to Africa. She was born in West Africa and brought to America for education. Early in life she heard about the many people in Africa who did not have the opportunity to learn about Jesus and the message he came to bring. She loved to hear her mother tell of her experiences in that far away land and she dreamed of the day when she could return to Africa to help carry on the work. After high school graduation, Elizabeth studied at the Armstrong Normal School and prepared to teach. Later she enrolled as the only female student in the Theological Seminary of Virginia Union University. Edward H. Bouey, a product of Morehouse College, was also the son of missionary parents who had served in Africa. He had dedicated himself to mission work and desired to go to Africa for work as soon as he could find a wife with similar desires. He corresponded with, and soon met, Elizabeth. It seems that their marriage was "made in heaven", for he proposed to her upon their first meeting. On his third visit to Richmond they were married at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, April 28, 1920, and very soon thereafter set sail for Liberia, West Africa, as Independent Missionaries. They had ambitious plans to re-establish the Bendoo Industrial Mission Station, a place where the parents of the couple had many years before carried on the work of the Lord. The efforts of Rev. and Mrs. Bouey at the mission were wonderfully blessed as boys and girls from many tribes were brought to the station for Christian Education. Support was generously given the young couple by family and friends in America, who twice a month sent boxes of needed supplies from the Coles' home in Richmond which served as headquarters. For nearly five years, Rev. and Mrs. Bouey worked at the Bendoo Industrial Mission. Two of their children were born there, and they adopted a boy of the Golah Tribe who was a promising student at the mission. The Boueys returned to America for a short furlough and then went back to Africa to work under the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention. This time they built the Carrie Dyer Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia and in many other ways strengthened the program of missions in the country. It has been reported that the Boueys are still remembered in Africa through the work of their children. One daughter, Elizabeth, works with the N.E.A. in the program of Educational Assistance and the U.S. State Department in West Africa. The two sons have become citizens and are employed in Liberia. Her work for the ministers' wives began in the fall of 1940, when, guided by the hand of God, Elizabeth Coles Bouey issued a call to ministers' wives and ministers' widows for the purpose of uniting unto one Christian fellowship, ministers' wives and ministers' widows of the various religious denominations for greater and more effective service in kingdom building. Under Mrs. Bouey's seventeen year term as President, much was accomplished. Ministers' wives from more than thirty states, the District of Columbia, West Africa and eight denominations became affiliated. Mrs. Bouey traveled extensively. Her work and interest took her to African and European countries. She was honored in Copenhagen at a Christian World Assembly and participated in many meetings of the Baptist World Alliance. After many months of illness, Mrs. Bouey passed away on February 5, 1957. Her body lay for several days in the Prayer Room of her home, a room in which she had met God many times. Death to her was a joyous home-going and she wanted all of her friends to rejoice, that she had now entered a richer, more beautiful life. The remains of our Founder, and those of her husband, now lie side by side in Woodland Cemetery on a hill overlooking the city of Richmond, Virginia.

-- 17. 1st Edition copy of Sons of Africa by G.A. Collack, published by the Student Christian Movement, 1928 . Biographical sketches on: Osai Tutu Kwamina, Bishop Crowther, Tshaka the Zulu, Moshesh, Khama, Sir Apolo Kwaga, J.E. Kwegyir Aggrey, and shorter sketches on more.  Last chapter on women and mothers in Africa - a rare look at women in 1920's Africa. Hardcover with dustjacket, 247 pages. Vintage book, 5.25'' x 7.75''.  Map endpapers. One look at the map names is an amazing reminder of the how things have changed from a geo-political perspective.

-- 18. A rare example of early printing, a leaf from St. Augustine's Opuscula printed in Strassburg in 1491 by Martin Flach. "de Doctrina Christiana" (On Christian Doctrine, written in 397) by Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, North Africa (AD 354-430). This page is listed as number 1950 in Hain, and as number A1221 in Goff, Incunabula in American Libraries. The literal meaning of the Latin word incunabulum is "infant’s cradle" and alludes to the fact that printing at that time was in its infancy. The fact that a book was printed before 1500 is significant in that its value is much greater than if it had been printed in 1501 or later. On handmade paper, this page is in good condition with minor traces of aging, soiling or spotting, edge flaws, etc.
BACKGROUND: Augustine was born at Thagaste (modern Souk-Ahras, Algeria, North Africa), a small town in the Roman province of Numidia. He received a classical education that both schooled him in Latin literature and enabled him to escape from his provincial upbringing. Trained at Carthage in rhetoric (public oratory), which was a requisite for a legal or political career in the Roman empire. Augustine's African homeland had been part of Rome's empire since the destruction of Carthage five hundred years before his birth. Carthage had been rebuilt by Rome as the metropolis of Roman Africa, wealthy once again but posing no threat. The language of business and culture throughout Roman Africa was Latin. Careers for the ambitious, as we shall see, led out of provincial Africa into the wider Mediterranean world; on the other hand, wealthy Italian senators maintained vast estates in Africa which they rarely saw. The dominant religion of Africa became Christianity -- a religion that violently opposed the traditions of old Rome but that could not have spread as it did without the prosperity and unity that Rome had brought to the ancient world. Roman Africa was a military backwater. The legions that were kept there to maintain order and guard against raids by desert nomads were themselves the gravest threat to peace; but their occasional rebellions were for the most part short-lived and inconsequential. The only emperors who ever spent much time in Africa were the ones who had been born there; by Augustine's time, decades had passed without an emperor even thinking of going to Africa. Some distinctly African character continued to mark life in the province. Some non-Latin speech, either the aboriginal Berber of the desert or the derelict Punic the Carthaginians had spoken, continued to be heard in dark corners. In some of the same corners, old local pagan cults could still be found. Augustine became a teacher of rhetoric in Carthage, in Rome, and finally in Milan, a seat of imperial government at the time. At Milan, in 386, Augustine underwent religious conversion. He retired from his public position, received baptism from Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, and soon returned to North Africa. In 391, he was ordained to the priesthood in Hippo Regius (modern Bone, Algeria); five years later he became bishop. When Augustine became a Christian clergyman, he found Africa rent by an ecclesiastical schism that had its roots at least partly in the truculent sense of difference maintained by the less-Romanized provincials of up-country Numidia, near the northern fringes of the Sahara.
-- Tertullian, a lay theologian from Carthage, North Africa, was perhaps the most important theologian in the Western Church at the end of the second century.
-- Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, North Africa, was a notable theologian and administrator. His theological focus was on the nature of the church as an institution. As such, he represents an important step in the maturing of the Church. As a disciple of Tertullian, Cyprian preached a rigorous Christianity.

-- 19. 1872 soft cover edition of  " Jubilee Songs: As Sung By The Jubilee Singers of Fisk University ( Nashville, Tennessee) Under the Auspices of the American Missionary Association." There is a 2 page preface in this book that was penned by Theodore F Seward, of Orange, New Jersey. Mr. Seward basically discusses the Jubilee Singers in his own words of course. This collection also has four First Edition copies of the hard cover book about the Jubilee Singers.

-- 20. Extremely rare First Edition 1622 copy of "De Suburbicariis Regionibus et Ecclesiis" (The Geographic and Ecclesiastic Suburbicarian Dioceses) by Jacques Sirmond. An intriguing book disputing the power of the Pope in Rome; published at Paris by Sebastien Cramoisy in MDCXXII. The term suburbicarius is taken from Roman public law, the expression regiones or provinciae suburbicariae meaning the districts adjacent to Rome. The present book related to suburbicary churches under the jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff impugned the opinion of Godefroy and Saumaise, to whom this book is directly addressed. The text, in an easily readable Latin, contains some erudite and unusual pieces of information about the extent of the Papal power on Rome, and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. For instance, the second chapter of the second book, dedicated to the chiefs and the ecclesiastic personalities of the Church of Constantinople, is particularly interesting. Another chapter discusses the Early African Church, which is very intriguing. The book is whole vellum bound, 17.5 x 11 cm, 7  x 4 1/2 inches, 310 pages + index.

BACKGROUND: Jacques Sirmond (1559-1651) is one of the greatest scholars of the seventeenth century. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1576 and was appointed in 1581 professor of classical languages in Paris, where he numbered St. Francis de Sales among his pupils. Called to Rome in 1590, he was for sixteen years private secretary to the Jesuit superior general, Aquaviva, devoting his leisure moments during the same period to the study of the literary and historical treasures of antiquity. He entertained intimate relations with several learned men then present at Rome, among them Bellarmine and particularly Baronius, whom he was helpful in the composition of the "Annales". In 1608 he returned to Paris, and in 1637 became confessor to King Louis XIII. His first literary production appeared in 1610, and from that date until the end of this life almost every year witnessed the publication of some new work. The results of his literary labors are chiefly represented by editions of Greek and Latin Christian writings.

<-- 21. One inch silver medal. The front shows the image of Bishop J.B. Small and shows dates 1899-1924. The outer edge reads - Gold Coast W. Africa - Don't Let My African Work Fail. The back reads - Contributor to AM.E. Zion, W.H. & F.M.S. $25,000 Fund. Also along the bottom edge is Whitehead & Hoag. Overall condition is fine. The elderly man we obtained this from told us his uncle was a salesman for the Whitehead & Hoag Company, of Newark, New Jersey. -- 22. Homer Laughlin 10 inch plate features 6 women from the African Methodist Episcopal Church. All six were members of The Women’s Missionary Society. They have been pictured on this plate. Lucy M. Hughes, Christine S. Smith, Anne E. Heath, Mary E. Frissell, Wilhelmina Lawrence and Delores L. Kenney Williams. The plate is trimmed in gold and is in great condition. From the clothing and hair these women looked to be involved in this society from the 1940s thru the 1960s.

-- 23. A rare 1905 First edition book, Daybreak in the Dark Continent, by Wilson S. Naylor, Beach Professor of Biblical Literature, Lawrence University, 315 pages. A book written about Christian missions to Africa, subtitled, "Forward Missions Study Courses."  It includes photos, illustrations and maps -- including photos of Bishop Samuel A. Crowther, King Khama and Paul (from Congo). Published by Women's Presbyterian Board of Missions of the Northwest, it was prepared for young people "under the auspices of the Young People's Missionary Movement", which began circa 1901. Here is a personal word from the author: "The chief characteristic of the viewpoint of these pages is man:  Man as he is found in Africa.  Everything that does not have a definite and vital relation to the present-day African is subordinated or eliminated.  Further, consideration of the African is centered upon his religious life; what that life is before Christianity affects it; what it is and may become under the influence of Christianity.  It is religious Africa in the broadest sense that is the perspective of this little volume."
    Appendix A is an extremely interesting chronology of African History, starting with the First Egyptian Dynasty. It mentions that "Christianity was probably introduced into Africa by visitors at Pentecost in 30 A.D." It goes on to mention that from 150 A.D to 400 A.D there was "the founding of the Christian College, or Missionary Training School, at Alexandria; Pantaenus, Origen, Clement, successive principles. Christianity flourished in North Africa. At various times Roman persecutions of African Christians. Period of African leadership in early Christian church: Tertullian, Cyprian, Athanasius, Arnobius, Augustine and others. Introduction of Christianity into Abyssinia and other sections to the south of Egypt and the Mediterranean coast lands." It goes on to say that in 522 there was the "extension of Abyssinian rule over sections of southern Arabia for purpose of protecting Christians against Jewish persecutions. Continued for 40 years." It goes on to recount the Moslem conquest of Egypt and North Africa (640-1000), era of European awakening to missionary endeavor (1100 - 1300), Prince Henry traveling throughout the West Coast of Africa, the Congo River, and the Cape of Good Hope (1394-1540), Vasco da Gama and more...

-- 24. 1805 Volume of Evangelical Magazine (January - December), with 1805 coversheet -- London:  Printed for T Williams and Co. Interesting insights into African missionary outreach.

-- 25. October, 1918 -- The Young Christian Worker "Monthly Magazine for Boys and Girls" (published by the Woman's Missionary Council of the M.E. Church, South, Nashville. 7" x 10". Editor: Sara Estelle Haskin) -- A 16-page missionary magazine illustrated with many photographs. This issue includes many photos of African-Americans. Articles include: A Builder of Happiness by L.H. Hammond - Hampton Institute - about Mrs. Barrett; Writing Poetry while Running an Elevator - about Paul Laurence Dunbar -- by Dr. Isaac Fisher; An American's Pictures in France by Minerva Hunter - about artist Henry O. Tanner; How Would You Like to Be a Poet? by M'Henry Cyr - about Phillis Wheatley; and The Colored Soldier by Rev. W.C. Ellington.
Some of the photos include, with captions: "Young African-American women at the Bethlehem House"; "African-Americans learning gardening at Paine College in Georgia"; "Young Men of the Negro Race learning to become doctors"; and "Young Women learning to teach at a Practice School"

-- 26. The American Missionary Magazine. The anti-slavery magazine in its entirety: 1846--1934, complete! It consists of 15 rolls of microfilm. This is a rare find. The rolls were created in 1974...quite fresh, in relative terms. In fact, the rolls are in great condition. This is an excellent research tool.
BACKGROUND: The American Missionary Association was a Protestant-based abolitionist group founded on September 3, 1846. The main purpose of this organization was to eliminate slavery, to educate African Americans, to promote racial equality, and to promote Christian values. Although it initially had the support of numerous Protestant groups, eventually it became most closely aligned with the Congregational Churches (now the United Church of Christ). It maintained its distinct identity until 1999, when a restructuring of the UCC merged it into the Justice and Witness Ministries division. The organization started the American Missionary magazine, which published from 1846 through 1934.
-- Ad Blotter for the American Missionary Association, 1931. in bold letter: "A Crusade of Brotherhood." It then goes on to state, "Churches among Negroes, Indians and Puerto Ricans are aided by the Association with the goal of self-support kept before the pastor and people to maintain the self-respect of each group and to develop leadership..."

-- 28. A 1858 bound volume of 45 issues of THE MORAVIAN, a weekly journal of the American Moravian Church -- running from January 8, 1858 to December 31, 1858, Phila:1858. The issues contain news of the Church, spiritual thoughts, missionary work including their work in enabling freed slave to go to Liberia and found a colony, and news of members. This is a collection of journals important in the history of the Moravian Church and its activities in the mid 19th century. Folio, 14 inch spine, 424pp.

-- 29. An antique framed engraving. It is of a membership certification to the Troy Conference Missionary Society, an auxiliary to the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  It is dated June 21st 1852. Signed by Edmund S. Jones (local pastor of State Street Church in Troy, 1852), President and Stephen. D. Brown (entered Troy Conference in 1837, transferred to the NY Conference in 1865, died in 1875), Secretary. The print depicts a trumpeting angel hovering above a congregation of African American slaves and Native Americans. The annual Troy Conference event (7 days) was held that year in Plattsburgh, NY. This life membership certificate is for Mrs. Sophia Jones, stating that she paid ten dollars. The top of the certificate shows some white spotting. The top left corner is clipped and there is a 1 x 4 inch water stain at the bottom. Measures 19 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches. Very nice antique frame is probably original to the piece. Some pastors of the Troy Conference were noted abolitionists (Don Papson and Andrew Witherspoon). George S. Brown (1801-1880) was an African American missionary to Liberia six times. A part of the Troy Conference, he founded Sandford's Ridge UM Church and was a much-sought-after stone mason in the region.

-- 31.  The Story of Baptist Missions in Foreign Lands: From the Time of Carey to the Present Date (1885) by Rev. G. Winfred Hervey, M.A. With an Introduction By Rev. A.H. Burlingham, D. D. St. Louis: Chancy R. Barns. Contents include: William Carey and the Mission in Hindustan; Planting the Acorn; The Growth of Carey's Mission; Debates and Victories; Vicissitudes of Missionary Life; The Work in England; William Ward and the Printing House at Serampore; Brahma and the Religion of Hindustan; Hindu Castes and Customs; Strange Gods and Their Worship; Adoniram Judson in the Palace and in the Prison; Bruised But Not Forsaken; The Release of Judson and His Subsequent Career; The Last Days of a Life of Sacrifices; Luther Rice and His Services at Home and Abroad; The Baptist Triennial Convention; Lott Carey and the African Mission; The Climate, Scenery and the Productions of India; The Adventures of Rev. John Chamberlain; The Re. Dr. Marshman of Serampore; Sir Henry Havelock, The Christian Soldier; Boardman, The Founder of the Karen Mission; Mrs. Ann Hasseltine Judson; Mrs. Sarah Boardman Judson; Mrs. Emily C. Judson; Eugenio Kincaid, The Burman Evangelist; The Rev. Grovers Comstock and Arracan; Mrs. Sarah Davis Comstock; Mr. Vinton and the Kemmendine Mission; Mrs. Vinton and the Karens; The Karens of The Golden Chersonese; Rev. Dr. Francis Mason; Mrs. H.M.G. Mason; Wade, Binney, Abbott, Beecher and Carpenter; The Two Karen Apostles; The Rev. Howard Malcolm, D.D. LL.D.; Jones and Dean of Siam; Mission in Siam and Shanland; The Religions of China; Mission in China; Japan, It's Religions and Missions; British Missions in Hindustan, Ceylon and Orissa; The Religions of Africa; Skinner, Crocker and Bowen, of the African Mission; Missions of the British Baptists in the West Indies; The Assam and Telugu Missions. The American Baptist and Free Mission Society; Missions in France, Brittany; and Germany; Missions in Denmark, Norway and Sweden; Missions in Greece Italy and Spain; Women's Foreign Mission Societies; Final Inquiries and Cautions; Appendix; Index. This book has 884 pages and is Illustrated and Indexed.

-- 32. Much more...

                   -- Click here to review more of The Freeman Institute Black History Collection.

___________________________________________________________________

A Philosophy on How to Develop a Global Mission's Perspective
CLICK HERE<