Jabez Pitt Campbell

Jabez Pitt Campbell (February 5, 1815 – August 9, 1891) was an American minister, activist, philanthropist and the eighth bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the first independent African-American church in the United States.

Early life Jabez P. Campbell was born free in Slaughter Neck, Sussex County, Delaware on February 5, 1815. a rare occurrence, since only about 5,000 African-Americans served in the Continental Army. His father was Anthony Campbell, a Methodist preacher, and his mother was Catherine Campbell, both of whom were members of the AME church. Despite his attempted escape, Campbell was captured and enslaved for four and a half years. He was meant to serve two more years, but he bought them from his master, and at age eighteen he was free.

Marriage and family

Campbell married twice. His first marriage was to Stella Medley on October 23, 1844. In April 1854, Stella Medley died. They had one child, Catherine Stella Campbell, in 1852. Campbell married again in 1855 to a widow, Mary Ann Akins. She was previously married to Joseph Shire and had four children with him. Akins and Campbell did not have any children together.

Religion and ministry

In 1833, after a brief encounter with Christian Universalism and soon after being freed, Jabez Campbell joined Bethel Church, an AME church, in Philadelphia. He condemned the raid as reckless, disapproving of violence in order to obtain freedom for the enslaved.

Campbell and his wife Mary both had life memberships to the Board of Managers of the Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons, an institution located in west Philadelphia. Although he gave money to various institutions, the biggest recipients were Wilberforce University and Jabez Pitt Campbell College, in Jackson, Mississippi. Wilberforce University awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1876. The University of Pennsylvania also awarded him an honorary degree.

Campbell publicly criticized Lincoln for the slow emancipation of the slaves after the end of the Civil War. He also participated in the Colored National Convention held in Franklin Hall, Sixth Street, below Arch, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 16, 17 and 18, 1855. He addressed the Convention, but the details of his speech are not known.

Death

Rev. Jabez P. Campbell died in 1891.