African American History - Harry Hosier

Harry Hosier was born a slave in North Carolina in 1750, but toward the end of the American Revolution he obtained his freedom, by purchasing himself. He converted to Methodism, and became a preacher. Early in his ministry, Harry became a close associate of Bishop Francis Asbury (1745- 1816), the “Founding Father of the American Methodist Church.”

Harry was illiterate but had such a gift for memorization that he could quote entire hymns and passages of Scripture from memory. In 1781, he delivered a sermon entitled “The Barren Fig Tree” at Adam's Chapel, Fairfax County, Virginia, – the first recorded Methodist sermon by an African American.
Despite his illiteracy, he became famous as a traveling evangelist and was considered one of the most popular preachers of his era. In fact, after hearing Harry preach in and around Philadelphia, Dr. Benjamin Rush (1745-1813), a signer of the Declaration of Independence and an evangelical Christian, declared that accounting for his illiteracy, Hosier was “the greatest orator in America.”