Apostle of Liberation - by Cheryl Janifer Laroche (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The first biography of 19th-century circuit-riding Black bishop William Paul Quinn, who liberated thousands through the Underground Railroad and helped establish the AME Church as the largest and most influential Black denomination in post-Civil War America"--

Book Synopsis

William Paul Quinn's untold story is a missing piece of American history. His deep but little-known involvement with the Underground Railroad is one of the most fascinating subplots of a remarkable life. More than any other prelate of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, or AME Church, Quinn (1788-1873) guided the faithful throughout the perilous pre-Civil War years, sanctioning escape from slavery while avoiding suspicion and, by all appearances, upholding the law. Quinn helped his followers navigate the hardships of slavery, as well as the demands of freedom in the post-Civil War world.
Apostle of Liberation illuminates Quinn's significance, demonstrating why his life and courageous efforts deserve more attention-and more appreciation. It also explores, in depth and for the first time, the eight and a half years Quinn spent in New York City. It was during this time that Quinn experienced the major conflict of his life with AME founder Bishop Richard Allen over Quinn's independent activities in New York. Much to Bishop Allen's frustration, Quinn-one of the AME Church's "Four Horsemen"along with Allen-associated with ministers of other denominations, collaborated with the city's African American civic leaders, rescued freedom seekers, and operated beyond Allen's reach. Quinn later established a 150-member independent church in the city, earning Allen's wrath and a five-year exile from the church.
This remarkable missionary's life embodies the struggles and challenges that shaped the lives of nineteenth-century Black leaders, and those who followed them. Apostle of Liberation explores the historical figure as well as the man of God-his spiritual gifts, his character and uniqueness, as well as his many strengths and failings. The book carefully lays out his trials and triumphs, and the magnitude of his accomplishments in the face of legally sanctioned national opposition, denominational fights and schisms, and devastating Supreme Court decisions. Combining AME Church history, the story of the Underground Railroad, the origins of African American educational efforts, and inspiring anecdotes of westward migration and community engagement, Apostle of Liberation offers an original and distinctive contribution to American religious history.

Review Quotes

"This essential title expertly educates readers about the early development of the AME church, Quinn, and his efforts to preach literacy and to ensure that people were safe from enslavement." --Library Journal

"LaRoche's book provides a much-needed investigation of Quinn's life, his importance to the AMEC, and his efforts to assist enslaved African Americans to freedom via the Underground Railroad." --Rev. Dr. C. Dennis Williams, presiding elder of the Tyler District, associate professor of religious studies, Paul Quinn College

"In this richly researched account, Cheryl Janifer LaRoche has recovered the dramatic, often colorful, story of one of the greatest figures in the development of the Black church in America, William Paul Quinn. She has brought into focus a man of moral passion, indefatigable energy, and bold personal courage who not only organized scores of congregations from Canada to Kansas, but also played a central role in the development of the Underground Railroad. This book will prove essential to our understanding of the deep connections between the AME church and radical abolitionism in antebellum America." --Fergus Bordewich, author of Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America

"This compelling account of William Paul Quinn's chronicles his intersecting activities as an AME minister and as an Underground Railroad operative. His journeys within the Atlantic World highlight his diasporic advocacy of black freedom." --Dennis C. Dickerson, Ph.D., James M. Lawson, Jr. Professor of History, Vanderbilt University

"A thoroughly researched and moving biography of Paul Quinn, a driving force in the founding and development of the AME Church. As LaRoche so amply shows, Quinn and the church he did so much to build were in the vanguard of the fight against slavery and racial discrimination." --Richard J. Blackett, Andrew Jackson Professor of History, Vanderbilt University; author of Making Freedom: The Underground Railroad and the Politics of Slavery

About the Author

Cheryl Janifer LaRoche, PhD, is the author of Free Black Communities and the Underground Railroad: The Geography of Resistance (2013). She is widely known as an archaeologist and received the John L. Cotter Award from the Society for Historical Archaeology in 2011. LaRoche is an associate research professor in Historic Preservation in the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at the University of Maryland, College Park.