“Father” Samuel Snowden (c. 1770–1850): Preacher, Minister to Mariners, and Anti-Slavery Activist

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article traces the life and ministry of the Rev. Samuel Snowden, the first Black pastor in the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church, who began his life as a slave on the eastern shore of Maryland. In 1818 he was called from Portland, Maine, to pastor the growing Black Methodist Episcopal congregation in Boston, Massachusetts. There he grew the first Black Methodist Episcopal congregation in New England and became a well-known and respected preacher and anti-slavery activist with a special ministry to Black seaman. At the end of his life, he opened his home as a refuge for fugitive slaves. Snowden’s son, Isaac Humphrey, became one of the first three Black men to enroll in Harvard Medical School.