Henry Evans

Henry Evans ( – 17 September 1810) was an American free Black Methodist preacher and cobbler who lectured to enslaved black people and built the first Methodist Church in Fayetteville. He is considered to be the "father of Methodism" in the city due to bringing the Methodist church to the area in the pre-Civil War era.

Biography

Early life Little is known about the life of Evans. Accounts of his life were detailed through the autobiographies of Episcopal bishop William Capers and Reverend James Jenkins during their visit to Fayetteville.

Henry Evans was born to free Black parents sometime in 1760 in Virginia. He converted to Christianity and Methodism and was licensed to preach in that state at an early age. He was removed from Virginia and relocated to Doubs Chapel in what is now Forsyth County. He worked as a shoemaker there for about a year but decided to move to Charleston, South Carolina, to improve financially. While on his way there, he was detained in Fayetteville for a few days. During his time in jail, he noticed the lack of religious worship among his fellow black people. Because of this, he stayed in Fayetteville and decided to become a preacher.

Career in preaching Evans began to preach to his fellow black people, but the town council prohibited his ability to preach. As a result, he moved out of town and went to the woods and continued to preach. He moved from place to place to escape mob violence by the local citizens, who took matters into their own hands after the council deemed that no law was violated. The meeting house soon got expanded with sheds to accommodate the increasing congregants of both races. The Evans Metropolitan AME Zion Church was built on the site of Evans Chapel in 1893 and was named after Evans. Lyerly claimed that Capers was torn between his respect for Evans and his racism, due to his contradictory portrayal of Evans' personality as humble as well as challenging racial norms. Lyerly also acknowledged Evans' efforts to keep the meeting house open despite racist threats and prohibition, saying that he was not a tool for white authority.