Daniel Payne
February 24, 1811 – November 2, 1893
Bishop & Educator
First Black university president in America — AME bishop and educator
Biography
African Methodist Episcopal bishop and educator who became the first Black president of a university in the United States (Wilberforce University, 1863). Born free in Charleston, South Carolina, he was forced to close his school for Black children when South Carolina outlawed educating enslaved people.
Faith & Testimony
Payne believed passionately that education was essential to the spiritual and social advancement of Black Americans. As AME bishop, he reformed the denomination's education standards for clergy. He purchased Wilberforce University from the Methodist Episcopal Church and shaped it into a center of Black intellectual and spiritual life.