Lemuel Haynes 1753 – 1833

Lemuel Haynes was probably the first African American ordained by a mainstream Protestant Church in the United States. Haynes, the abandoned child of an African father and "a white woman of respectable ancestry," was born in 1753 at West Hartford, Connecticut. Five months later, he was bound to service until the age of 21 to David Rose of Middle Granville, Massachusetts.

With only a rudimentary formal education, Haynes developed a passion for books, especially the Bible and books on theology. As an adolescent, he frequently conducted services at the town parish, sometimes reading sermons of his own.

To learn more about this remarkable African American minister please click this link to PBS.org.

Also, see this link from Cengage Learning about Rev. Hayes' life and legacy.

Click this link for a book review of Black Puritan, Black Republican: The Life and Thought of Lemuel Haynes, 1753–1833. By John Saillant. Religion in America Series. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Pp. xii, 232. $39.95.) Reviewed by James Sidbury , University of Texas at Austin.