1915 May 08
Henry McNeal Turner (1834–1915) was a pioneering African American bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, a prominent civil rights leader, and one of the first Black men elected to the Georgia State Legislature during the Reconstruction era (after the Civil war). He was born free on February 1, 1834, in South Carolina to parents of mixed African-European ancestry. He was raised by his mother and grandmother. Despite laws banning the education of African Americans, he escaped cotton field labor and found work at a law firm in Abbeville. At age 14, he was inspired by a Methodist revival and vowed to become a pastor.






