Samuel Snowden (1850) was an African-American

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

and pastor of the May Street Church, one of the first black

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

churches in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Massachusetts. Under Reverend Snowden's direction from 1818 to 1850, the May Street Church congregation supported the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

; members included several prominent abolitionists, such as David Walker from North Carolina.

Pastoral life

Snowden was born enslaved in a

slave state In the United States before 1865, a slave state was a state in which slavery and the internal or domestic slave trade were legal, while a free state was one in which they were prohibited. Between 1812 and 1850, it was considered by the slave s ...

, but later reached the free states and began his career as a pastor. Before 1818, Reverend Snowden served as the pastor of the Chestnut Street Church in

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

. As the African-American community in the Bromfield Street Methodist Episcopal Church in

grew, they petitioned their bishop to establish a separate black Methodist church and to appoint Snowden as their pastor. While smaller than the prominent First African Baptist Church in Boston, they had some autonomy. The bishop accepted their petition, and in 1818, he appointed Snowden as pastor of the newly established May Street Church. With Reverend Snowden at the helm, the May Street Church community grew too large for their facilities, and they built a new church nearby in 1824, the Revere Street Church. Snowden served as pastor until he died in 1850.

Abolitionist activities

While pastor of the May Street and Revere Street churches, Snowden was deeply involved in

abolitionism Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. ...

. David Walker, leading abolitionist and author of ''An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World,'' was a member of the May Street Church. Snowden's "powerful personality and antislavery activism" is likely what attracted Walker to his church, and the men lived across the street from each other on the north side of Beacon Hill in the late 1820s. The congregation supported the church as a stop on the Underground Railroad; Snowden and his family also aided people escaping slavery at their homes. Snowden and his daughters, Isabella and Holmes, welcomed freedom seekers into their houses and offered them shelter, food, and clothing. Additionally, Snowden worked closely with

William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was an Abolitionism in the United States, American abolitionist, journalist, and reformism (historical), social reformer. He is best known for his widely read anti-slavery newspaper ''The ...

, donating money to abolitionism and allowing Garrison to use his church's facilities for events.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snowden, Samuel African-American abolitionists African-American Methodists Abolitionists from Boston 1850 deaths Year of birth uncertain 18th-century American slaves Fugitive American slaves Methodist abolitionists People from colonial Boston