Daniel Payne

Daniel Payne

Daniel Alexander Payne (February 24, 1811 – November 2, 1893) was an American bishop, educator, college administrator and author. He became the 6th bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) (1852-1893) and was a major shaper of it in the 19th century, stressing education and preparation of ministers and the introduction of more order in the church. He was one of the founders of Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1856. In 1863 the AME Church bought the college; chosen to lead it, Payne became the first African-American president of a college in the United States and served in that position until 1877.

By quickly organizing AME missionary support of freedmen in the South after the Civil War, Payne gained 250,000 new members for the AME Church during the Reconstruction era. Based first in Charleston, he and his missionaries founded AME congregations in the South down the East Coast to Florida and west to Texas. In 1891 Payne wrote the first history of the AME Church, a few years after publishing his memoir.