Edward Africanus

Born New York State

During his brief lifetime, Edward C. Africanus was widely considered the most talented minister in the New York Conference of the African American Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. He served as pastor at two churches in New York State: Bethel A.M.E. Church in Weeksville, a neighborhood founded by free African Americans in what is now Brooklyn, and the Macedonia A.M.E. Church in Flushing, which was reportedly a station on the Underground Railroad. Knowledgeable in Latin and Greek, Africanus was said to have “towered high as [a] scholar and pulpit orator.”

This lithograph of Africanus was likely published as a memorial print soon after his untimely death in 1853, when he was in his early thirties. The Philadelphia Conference of the A.M.E. Church memorialized him as “a bright and shining light, a worthy, efficient and zealous minister, and a rare example of true virtue and vital piety.”

Nacido en Nueva York

Durante su corta vida, Edward C. Africanus se dio a conocer como el ministro más talentoso de la Iglesia Metodista Episcopal Afroamericana (A.M.E) en la Conferencia de Nueva York. Fue pastor de dos iglesias A.M.E. en esa área: la de Bethel en Weeksville, vecindario fundado por afroamericanos libres en el actual Brooklyn, y la de Macedonia en Flushing, que se decía era una parada del Ferrocarril Subterráneo. Africanus sabía latín y griego, y se le consideraba “un erudito y orador de gran estatura”.

Esta litografía de Africanus se publicó posiblemente como recordatorio tras su muerte prematura en 1853, con poco más de 30 años de edad. La Conferencia de Filadelfia de la Iglesia A.M.E. lo conmemoró como “luz viva, ministro digno, eficiente y fervoroso, y raro ejemplo de verdadera virtud y piedad vital”.