author
Daniel Alexander Payne
1811–1893
A pioneering bishop, educator, and author, he helped shape the African Methodist Episcopal Church while arguing that learning and faith should go hand in hand. His long career also left a mark on Black higher education in the United States.
1 Audiobook
Welcome to the ransomed; or, Duties of the colored inhabitants of the District of Columbia
by Daniel Alexander Payne
About the author
Born free in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1811, Daniel Alexander Payne became one of the most influential leaders in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He valued education deeply, taught school as a young man, and later entered the ministry after studying in Pennsylvania.
Payne was elected a bishop in 1852 and became known for encouraging better training for ministers, stronger church organization, and wider educational opportunities for African Americans. He also played an important role in Wilberforce University in Ohio, where he served as a leader and is widely remembered as the first African American president of a U.S. college.
As a writer, Payne left autobiographical and historical works that preserve important details about Black religious life in the 19th century. He died in 1893, but his legacy still stands at the meeting point of faith, scholarship, and institution-building.