Apostle of Liberation

AME Bishop Paul Quinn and the Underground Railroad

Cheryl Janifer LaRoche

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Hardback

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English

Rowman & Littlefield
15 March 2025

Biography: religious & spiritual; Social & cultural history; Methodist Churches; Ethnic studies; Black & Asian studies

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.

The book 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—along with Allen, one of the AME Church’s “Four Horsemen”—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. Divine Mystery 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, Divine Mystery offers an original and distinctive contribution to American religious history.

By: Cheryl Janifer LaRoche
Imprint: Rowman & Littlefield
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781538198117
ISBN 10: 1538198118
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 15 March 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Cheryl Janifer LaRoche, Ph.D., 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. In 2023 LaRoche received the Calvert Prize from the Maryland Historical Trust, and in 2022 LaRoche was interviewed on three PBS documentaries: “Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom,” “Becoming Frederick Douglas,” and “Making Black America: Through the Grapevine,” a series hosted by Henry Louis Gates. LaRoche is an Associate Research Professor in Historic Preservation in the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at the University of Maryland, College Park. She has consulted on a wide range of pre-Civil War historical projects and sites, particularly for the National Park Service. She also served as the project historian for the Cultural Expressions exhibition for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. She began her career as an archaeological conservator for the New York African Burial Ground.

Reviews for Apostle of Liberation: AME Bishop Paul Quinn and the Underground Railroad

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 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 LaRochersquo;s book provides a much-needed investigation of Quinnrsquo;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 This compelling account of William Paul Quinn#39;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