“P” is for Payne, Daniel Alexander (1811-1893)

“P” is for Payne, Daniel Alexander (1811-1893). Educator, clergyman. Payne was born a free person of color in Charleston. He was trained early in Methodist traditions at Cumberland Methodist Church. He was formally educated in one of Charleston’s free Black private schools. He opened his own school where he taught free Black students and (clandestinely) enslaved children. In 1834 a new state law prohibited both slave literacy and schools maintained by free Blacks. In 1835 Payne left South Carolina, studied at Gettysburg Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and ordained as a Lutheran clergyman. He moved to Philadelphia where he became a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. In 1852 he was elected bishop. In 1865 Daniel Alexander Payne returned to South Carolina to preside over the establishment of the South Carolina Conference of the AME Church.