Gowan Pamphlet
{{Short description|American former slave and minister}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific-prefix = The Reverend
| name = Gowan Pamphlet
| title = Pastor of First Baptist Church
| image = Gowan Pamphlet Portrait.png
| caption = Portrait, {{c.|1790–1800}}
| province =
| diocese =
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| ordination = 1772
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1748
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1807|1748}}
| death_place = Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S.
| buried =
| nationality =
| religion = Baptist
| residence =
| parents =
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| occupation = Minister, preacher, formerly enslaved person
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| signature =
| term = 1781–1807
| image_size = 175px
}}Gowan Pamphlet (1748–1807) was an American Baptist minister and freedman who founded the Black Baptist Church (now known as First Baptist Church) in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States.Woodson, Carter G. The History of the Negro Church. Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishers, 1921.{{Cite web |title=Gowan Pamphlet |url=https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/explore/nation-builders/gowan-pamphlet/ |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=colonialwilliamsburg.org |language=en-US}} He was one of the first and, for a time, the only ordained African American preacher of any denomination in the American Colonies.{{Cite web |title=Ask Reverend Gowan Pamphlet |url=https://www.innermosthousefoundation.org/virtual-events/2020/8/20/patrick-henry-on-the-upcoming-election-z4x63-n6j26-5z8ag |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=Innermost House |date=December 10, 2020 |language=en-US}}Irons, Charles F. The Origins of Proslavery Christianity: White and Black Evangelicals in Colonial and Antebellum Virginia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008.
Early life
Gowan Pamphlet was born into slavery in 1748.{{Cite web |last=Rowe |first=Linda H. |title=Gowan Pamphlet (fl. 1779–1807) |url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/pamphlet-gowan-fl-1779-1807/ |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=Encyclopedia Virginia |language=en-US}}
In the 1770s, he was enslaved in the home of a tavern owner, the widow Jane Vobe (1733–1786).{{Cite web |last=Richter |first=Julie |title=Jane Vobe (by 1733–1786) |url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/vobe-jane-by-1733-1786/ |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=Encyclopedia Virginia |language=en-US}} Multiple Black persons enslaved by Vobe "learned to read the Bible and took part in formal Church of England services at Bruton Parish Church," possibly including Pamphlet. During this time, Pamphlet began his pastoral ministry. Pamphlet was forced to work alongside employees and slaves in Vobe's 1772 King's Arms Tavern in Williamsburg. Before the Revolution, Pamphlet catered to William Byrd III, Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, and George Washington and "became skilled in the manners, etiquette, and services that genteel diners and travelers expected."{{Cite web |title=Gowan Pamphlet |url=http://www.slaveryandremembrance.org/almanack/people/bios/biopam.cfm |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=slaveryandremembrance.org |language=en}}
Ministry
Pamphlet was inspired by the teachings of blind disabled preacher, Moses "Daddy Moses" Wilkinson, a radical Methodist preacher who combined Old Testament divination with African religious traditions such as conjuring and sorcery.{{Cite web |title=The Radical Methodist Congregation of Daddy Moses |url=http://www.blackloyalist.info/the-radical-methodist-congregation-of-daddy-moses/ |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=www.blackloyalist.info |archive-date=November 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221108222306/http://www.blackloyalist.info/the-radical-methodist-congregation-of-daddy-moses/ |url-status=dead }}
During the American Revolutionary War and inspired by the First Great Awakening,Tate, Thad W. The Negro in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg. Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1965. in the 1770s, Pamphlet began secretly preaching a message of equality to a congregation of free and enslaved African Americans on wooded land at Green Spring Plantation on the outskirts of the city.{{Cite web |title=Gowan Pamphlet · Virginia Changemakers |url=https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/changemakers/items/show/51 |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=edu.lva.virginia.gov |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Questions I Get About Gowan Pamphlet |url=https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/learn/living-history/questions-i-get-about-gowan-pamphlet/ |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=colonialwilliamsburg.org |date=March 26, 2020 |language=en-US}}
By 1781, the informal congregation grew to over 200 members.{{Cite web |title=Gowan Pamphlet {{!}} Slavery and Remembrance |url=http://slaveryandremembrance.org/people/person/?id=PP028 |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=slaveryandremembrance.org}}Semple, Robert B. A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia. Richmond, Virginia: Pitt and Dickinson, 1894. First published 1810 by author. With his owner's permission, Pamphlet was ordained in 1772, becoming one of the first and only ordained black preachers of any denomination in the country.{{Cite news |last=Ruane |first=Michael |date=September 17, 2020 |title=Beneath a Virginia parking lot rest the bones of an old Black church and, perhaps, its worshipers |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/09/17/williamsburg-dig-black-church/ |access-date=October 27, 2022}}
File:Gowan Pamphlet Manumission.jpg
Pamphlet remained in Williamsburg until 1786 when he moved with his owner to Manchester, Chesterfield County. He resided there until Vobe's death.Rowe, Linda H. “Gowan Pamphlet: Baptist Preacher in Slavery and Freedom.” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 120, no. 1 (2012): 2–31.
1793 was a significant year in the life of Pamphlet; he returned to Williamsburg with his new owner (and Vobe's son) David Miller, returned to preach to his informal congregation and promote equality,Sobel, Mechal. Trabelin’ On: The Slave Journey to an Afro-Baptist Faith. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1988. First published 1979 by Greenwood Press. and was freed by his owner through a deed of manumission in September 1793.
The deed is the first listing of his chosen surname, "Pamphlet," which he is believed to have chosen after reading Thomas Paine's pamphlet, Common Sense.{{Cite web |title=Williamsburg Chapter Attends Marker Dedication |url=http://www.virginiasar.org/1/post/2021/05/williamsburg-chapter-attends-marker-dedication.html |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=DISPATCH |language=en}} In that same year, Pamphlet's informal congregation was formally received by the Dover Baptist Association, establishing them as an official church congregation.Frey, Sylvia R. and Betty Wood. Come Shouting to Zion: African American Protestantism in the American South and British Caribbean to 1830. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
By the early 1800s, Pamphlet was a landowner in Williamsburg and owned 14 acres in James City County. He continued to serve as the minister of his congregation, which amassed an estimated 500 members by the time of his death.{{Cite web |title=Gowan Pamphlet Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=189142 |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=hmdb.org |language=en}}
Death
Legacy
In 1962, Martin Luther King Jr. visited Williamsburg and preached at First Baptist Church, where he paid tribute to the founding of the church and its importance in the broader civil rights movement.{{Cite web |title=Stories {{!}} The Historic First Baptist Church of Williamsburg |url=http://firstbaptistchurch1776.org/media/stories/detail/395148/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-made-a-stop-in-williamsburg-on-the-path-to-civil-rights/ |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=firstbaptistchurch1776.org}}{{Cite web |title=The Martin Luther King, Jr. / Community Memorial |url=https://williamsburgcommunityfoundation.org/martin-luther-king-jr-community-memorial/ |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=WCF |date=November 30, 2021 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=June 1, 2018 |title=Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision, legacy to be remembered at Williamsburg's First Baptist Church |url=https://wydaily.com/news/local/2018/06/01/martin-luther-king-jr-s-vision-legacy-to-be-remembered-at-williamsburgs-first-baptist-church/ |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=Williamsburg Yorktown Daily |language=en-US}}
Colonial Williamsburg tells the stories of 18th-century African Americans including interpreters in the Revolutionary City and Sharing the Spotlight programs portraying Pamphlet.{{Cite web |title=Historic interpreters adapt, learn new skills as Colonial Williamsburg ramps up online content, launches streaming channel |url=https://www.dailypress.com/virginiagazette/va-vg-virtual-colonial-williamsburg-0429-20200428-b52rsvw4rnaupgo2sfxluyuofe-story.html |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=Daily Press|date=April 28, 2020 }}{{Cite web |title=Visit a Nation Builder- Reverend Gowan Pamphlet |url=https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/events/visit-a-nation-builder-reverend-gowan-pamphlet/ |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=www.colonialwilliamsburg.org |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Sharing the Spotlight |url=https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/trend-tradition-magazine/trend-tradition-winter-2019/sharing-spotlight/ |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=www.colonialwilliamsburg.org |date=February 5, 2020 |language=en-US}}
In 2010, Pamphlet was recognized as an "African American Trailblazers" honoree by the Library of Virginia.{{Cite web |title=African American Trailblazers 2010 · Virginia Changemakers |url=https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/changemakers/trailblazers-2010 |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=edu.lva.virginia.gov |language=en-US}}
A state historical marker (Marker Number W 110.) was erected in 2020 by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to commemorate Pamphlet's life and legacy. The marker is located at the intersection of North Nassau and Scotland Streets in Williamsburg, close to the original site of the church.{{Cite web |last=Centolanza |first=Brandy |date=April 23, 2021 |title=New Historical Highway Marker Dedicated to Gowan Pamphlet |url=https://peninsulachronicle.com/2021/04/23/new-historical-highway-marker-dedicated-to-gowan-pamphlet/ |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=Peninsula Chronicle |language=en-US}}
References
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External links
- [https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/explore/nation-builders/gowan-pamphlet/ Colonial Williamsburg Biography of Gowan Pamphlet]
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Category:Baptists from Virginia
Category:African-American activists
Category:18th-century American slaves
Category:18th-century Baptist ministers from the United States
Category:African-American theologians
Category:American indentured servants
Category:African-American Baptist ministers
Category:Colonial Williamsburg