Remembering Bishop Henry McNeal Turner
Henry McNeal Turner (1834-May 8, 1915) was one of the most influential Black leaders of late 19th century Georgia. Turner was an influential pastor, one of the earliest Black legislators, a prolific writer, and a profound orator.
Born in South Carolina, he was never enslaved and received an education through the assistance of the law firm at which he was a janitor. After traveling the South as an itinerant evangelist, he was accepted as a pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in 1858 and then pastored in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. In his churchyard in 1863, he helped organize the First Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops for which he mustered into service as their chaplain, serving in several battles in Virginia.