Thomas Marcus Decatur Ward

Rev. Thomas Marcus Decatur Ward (September 28, 1823 – June 1894) was an American preacher, missionary, bishop, and abolitionist who aided African-Americans escaping slavery. Ward is considered to have been a central leader of African American religious activity in the 19th century and has been referred to as “the original trailblazer of African Methodism” in the United States. He was an early representative of the A.M.E. church on the Pacific Coast, and he also served as the 10th Bishop of the A.M.E. Church starting in 1868. Ward often went by the name T. M. D. Ward, but was also known as Thomas Mayers Decatur Ward. His parents and grandparents were African American and had escaped from slavery and moved to Pennsylvania, where they became active in the Underground Railroad. His uncle was Samuel Ringgold Ward.

Ward grew up in Philadelphia, where he joined the A.M.E church in 1838 at age 15.

Ward soon became a member of the AME church hierarchy in Pennsylvania. He was then elected secretary of the New England Conference for the territories within the national church. Soon after his arrival, the church was attacked by an arsonist in 1854.

From 1854 until 1856, Ward worked as a Sunday School teacher and pastor at Saint Andrews African Methodist Episcopal Church in Sacramento.

Ward became involved in the campaign to Archy Lee. In 1886, Ward created a coalition of religious figures dedicated to the study of learning. and he was buried in Washington, D.C.