Anthony Binga Jr.

{{Infobox person

| honorific_prefix = The Reverend

| name = Anthony Binga Jr.

| image = Rev. Anthony Binga Jr. (1843–1919) (cropped).png

| image_upright = .8

| caption = Photograph of Rev. Anthony Binga Jr. published in 1908

| birth_date = June 1, 1843

| birth_place = Amherstburg, Ontario

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1919|1|21|1843|6|1}}

| death_place = Richmond, Virginia, U.S.

| resting_place = Mount Olivet Cemetery

| alma_mater = King's Institute

| occupation = Minister, educator, businessman

| years_active = 1865–1919

| title =

| party =

| boards = * Baptist Foreign Mission Convention

| spouse = Rebecca L. Bush
(m. 1869 d. 1907)
Mary Sweetman (m. 1909)

| children = 4

| relatives = Lillian Atkins Clark (granddaughter)
Jesse Binga (cousin)

}}

Anthony Binga Jr. (June 1, 1843{{spnd}}January 21, 1919) was an American minister, educator, businessman, and board chairman of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention. He was one of the first African Americans to serve as a public school teacher in Virginia.

Early life and education

Anthony Binga Jr. was born in Canada on June 1, 1843, the son of Rhoda Binga and Rev. Anthony Binga Sr., a Baptist preacher in Amherstburg, Ontario, founder of Amherstburg First Baptist Church, and conductor of the Underground Railroad.{{Cite book |last=Schwarz |first=Philip J. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Migrants_Against_Slavery/27nutVEaINsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Anthony+Binga+Jr.&pg=PA169&printsec=frontcover |title=Migrants Against Slavery: Virginians and the Nation |date=2001 |publisher=University of Virginia Press |isbn=978-0-8139-2008-5 |language=en}} His parents had fled to Canada to escape slavery.{{Cite web |title=Binga Family – Amherstburg Freedom Museum |url=https://amherstburgfreedom.org/binga-family/ |access-date=2025-03-03 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Anthony Binga Jr. {{!}} Discovery Virginia |url=https://discoveryvirginia.org/anthony-binga-jr-0 |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=discoveryvirginia.org}}{{Cite web |last=Kneebone |first=John T. |title=Anthony Binga Jr. (1843–1919) |url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/binga-anthony-jr-1843-1919/ |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=Encyclopedia Virginia |language=en-US}}

Binga was educated at King's Institute in Buxton.{{Cite book |last=Binga |first=Anthony |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Sermons_on_Several_Occasions/Fh1FAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Anthony+Binga+Jr.&pg=PR9&printsec=frontcover |title=Sermons on Several Occasions |date=1889 |language=en}} He originally had the goal of being a physician, and completed three years of medical training. Binga received private tutoring in Latin and anatomy and completed his studies in 1865. After a period of illness, Binga decided to become a minister and was ordained by the Canadian Anti-Slavery Baptist Association.

Career

From 1865 to 1867, Binga was a school teacher in Atchison, Kansas. He then worked as a principal at Albany Enterprise Academy in Athens, Ohio, where he worked until 1869.{{Cite book |last=Earnest |first=Joseph Brummell |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Religious_Development_of_the_Negro_i/q2BAAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Anthony+Binga+Jr.&pg=PA217&printsec=frontcover |title=The Religious Development of the Negro in Virginia |date=1914 |publisher=Michie Company, printers |language=en}}

In 1872, Binga and his family relocated to Richmond, Virginia, where he had accepted a call as the minister of First Baptist Church.{{Cite web |last=Pumphrey |first=Shelby |year=2020 |title=Finding asylum : race, gender and confinement in Virginia, 1885–1930 |url=https://d.lib.msu.edu/etd/48585 |website=Michigan State University |isbn=9798645449582}}{{Cite web |last=Schapiro |first=Jeff E. |date=2020-09-13 |title=Over 200 years, Black church makes history, shapes Richmond |url=https://richmond.com/news/local/history/over-200-years-black-church-makes-history-shapes-richmond/article_49214020-1bb0-5bda-aede-02a5082bb952.html |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=Richmond Times-Dispatch |language=en}} The same year, Binga began serving as an instructor to James Blackwell and John Mitchell Jr.{{Cite journal |last=Brundage |first=Fitzhugh |year=1991 |title=“To Howl Loudly”: John Mitchell Jr. and his Campaign against Lynching in Virginia |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/50/article/681877/summary |journal=Canadian Review of American Studies |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=325–341}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=James H. Blackwell (ca. 1864–1931) |url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/blackwell-james-h-ca-1864-1931/ |access-date=2025-03-02 |website=Encyclopedia Virginia |language=en-US}}{{Cite book |last=Kneebone |first=John T. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Dictionary_of_Virginia_Biography/V85OAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=James+Heyward+Blackwell&pg=PA529&printsec=frontcover |title=Dictionary of Virginia Biography |date=1998 |publisher=Library of Virginia |isbn=978-0-88490-189-1 |language=en}} In addition to his ministry, Binga accepted a position as a teacher in the Manchester public school system, where he was the first and only African American teacher. He oversaw the education of all African American students in Manchester, serving as the acting administrator of six schools. In his role, he advocated for the hiring of African American women as teachers, which was a central issue of the period.{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Nicole Myers |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Soul_Liberty/a7_RDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Anthony+Binga+Jr.&pg=PA102&printsec=frontcover |title=Soul Liberty: The Evolution of Black Religious Politics in Postemancipation Virginia |year=2020|publisher=UNC Press Books |isbn=978-1-4696-5524-6 |language=en}}

Binga was highly active in the Virginia Baptist State Convention, serving as secretary of the organization in the 1870s. In 1880, he became the chairman of the Foreign Mission Board of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention, an organization that is now known as the National Baptist Convention.{{Cite book |last=Dorrien |first=Gary J. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_New_Abolition/qe-ACgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Anthony+Binga+Jr.&pg=PA402&printsec=frontcover |title=The New Abolition: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel |year=2015 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-20560-2 |language=en}} Binga also served on the board of the Virginia auxiliary of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention and as a trustee and vice chairman of Virginia Union University.

Outside of his education and ministry vocations, Binga was active in business and industry, including serving as vice president of the Negro Development and Exposition Company.{{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Giles B. |url=https://archive.org/details/industrialhistor00jack/page/392/mode/2up?view=theater&q=Binga |title=The Industrial History of the Negro Race of the United States |last2= |first2= |date= |publisher=The Virginia Press |others= |year=1908}} The initial purpose of the company was to support an exhibit dedicated to African Americans in the "Negro Building" at the 1907 Jamestown Exposition.{{Cite book |last=Hintz |first=Eric S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4HQJEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22National+Negro+Exposition%22&pg=PA128 |title=American Independent Inventors in an Era of Corporate R&D |date=2021 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-36571-0 |pages=125–128 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Yarsinske |first=Amy Waters |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ers5Ce-TSZwC&dq=%22Negro+Development+and+Exposition+Company%22&pg=PA31 |title=Jamestown Exposition: American Imperialism on Parade |date=1999 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-0-7385-0167-3 |pages=30–33 |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Franklin |first=Lucy Brown |date=1975 |title=The Negro Exhibition of the Jamestown Ter-Centennial Exposition of 1907 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/44175679 |journal=Negro History Bulletin |volume=38 |issue=5 |pages=408–414 |jstor=44175679 }}

Binga retired from teaching in 1888, but remained in his role as minister of First Baptist Church until his death.{{Cite web |title=Our History – First Baptist Church of South Richmond |url=https://www.fbctoday.org/our-history/ |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=www.fbctoday.org}}{{Cite web |title=127-5817 |url=https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/127-5817/ |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=DHR |language=en-US}}{{Cite book |last=Belsches |first=Elvatrice Parker |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Richmond_Virginia/arjEC8RrPq0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Anthony+Binga+Jr.&pg=PA52&printsec=frontcover |title=Richmond, Virginia |date=2002 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-0-7385-1403-1 |language=en}} Binga oversaw the construction of the new First Baptist Church building which opened in 1892.{{Cite web |title=The First Baptist Church of South Richmond Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=216632 |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=www.hmdb.org |language=en}}{{Cite book |url=https://exploreuk.uky.edu/catalog/xt7mkk94bb94?q=Image+1+community+action+in+appalachia&f%5Bsource_s%5D%5B%5D=Virginia+Works+Progress+Administration+Publications&per_page=100#page/42/mode/1up/search/Binga |title=Inventory of the Church Archives of Virginia, Negro Baptist Churches in Richmond |publisher=Historical Records Survey of Virginia |year=1940 |pages=42}}{{Cite web |title=The African Church of Manchester Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=202469 |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=www.hmdb.org |language=en}}

In 1905, Binga was a delegate to the Baptist Congress in London on behalf of the Lott Carey Convention.

Personal life

In December 1869, Binga married Rebecca L. Bush. They had 3 children. After his wife's death in 1907, Binga remarried to Mary Sweetman in 1909. They had one son.

Death

Binga died of arteriosclerosis on January 21, 1919, and is interred at Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Works

Sermons on Several Occasions (1889){{Cite web |title=Sermons on Several Occasions |url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/7771hpr-a046f555207c546/ |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=Encyclopedia Virginia |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Item Details {{!}} Research Catalog {{!}} NYPL |url=https://web.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b11578288 |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=Item Details {{!}} Research Catalog {{!}} NYPL |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=West |first=Cornel |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/African_American_Religious_Thought/MIhPoZ2NHSMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Anthony+Binga+Jr.&pg=PA470&printsec=frontcover |title=African American Religious Thought: An Anthology |last2=Glaude |first2=Eddie S. |year=2003 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0-664-22459-2 |language=en}}
Autobiography of Anthony Binga Jr. (1917){{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Ann Field |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Race_Man/LtPOZyB0JOgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Anthony+Binga+Jr.&pg=PA215&printsec=frontcover |title=Race Man: The Rise and Fall of the 'Fighting Editor', John Mitchell Jr |date=2002 |publisher=University of Virginia Press |isbn=978-0-8139-2116-7 |language=en}}

Awards and legacy

In 1889, Binga received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Shaw University.

A collection of Binga's sermons is in the permanent collection of the New York Public Library.{{Cite web |title=Yours truly, A. Binga, Jr. |url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-7096-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=NYPL Digital Collections |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Sermons on several occasions – NYPL Digital Collections |url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/sermons-on-several-occasions#/?tab=about |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=digitalcollections.nypl.org}}