Background

James Theodore Augustus Holly was born on October 3, 1829 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States. His father, James, was one of the laborers employed in the building of the Capitol. He was also a shoemaker and was wont to boast that he made the shoes which President Madison wore at his first inauguration.

Education

Holly learned his father's trade. In 1844 the family moved North in order to escape disabilities under which negroes labored in the South, and young Holly secured some schooling in New York, and later in Buffalo and Detroit.

Career

From 1851 to 1853 he was associate editor of the Voice of the Fugitive, published in Windsor, Canada; in 1854 he was a public school principal in Buffalo. At Detroit, the following year, although his parents had been Roman Catholics, he was ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church. Prior to this time he had become interested in the question of emigration for members of his race.

He was among those who called the National Emigration Convention of Colored Men which met in Cleveland, Ohio, August 24 to 26, 1854. There were three parties in the convention. Martin R. Delaney was at the head of those who favored removal to the Niger Valley in Africa; James M. Whitfield, of Buffalo, a writer, at the head of those who preferred Central America; and Holly led those who chose Haiti.

Soon after his ordination, in the interest of the emigration project and also to collect for the Church information as to the feasibility of establishing a mission there, Holly went to Haiti. He entered into negotiations with the minister of the interior, by whom he was presented to Emperor Faustin I. Upon his return he gave a report at the Emigration Convention which met in 1856, and the next year published A Vindication of the Capacity of the Negro Race for Self-government, and Civilized Progress, a lecture based on the history of Haiti. It is worthy of note that this lecture was the first publication of the Afric-American Printing Company, formed under the auspices of the National Emigration Convention for the publishing of negro literature. There were delays in the actual carrying out of the emigration scheme because of internal feuds in Haiti; in the meantime Holly was ordained priest, January 2, 1856, in New Haven, Connecticut, where he served as rector of St. Luke's Church until 1861.

In 1859 James Redpath visited Haiti and President Geffrard appointed him commissioner of emigration in the United States, on the understanding that he would cooperate with Holly. Authorized by him, in 1861 Holly and a shipload of emigrants left Philadelphia for Port-au-Prince. Altogether about two thousand persons went forth, but not more than a third of the number remained and many of these died, including members of Holly's own family.

In 1874 an arrangement was made between the House of Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States and the Convocation of that Church in the Republic of Haiti, whereby the latter was recognized as a foreign church under the "nursing care" of the American Church. That same year, November 8, Holly was consecrated bishop of Haiti in Grace Church, New York. During the remainder of his life he worked with singular zeal to advance the cause of Christianity in his adopted home. In 1878 he went to England as a member of the second Lambeth Conference, and, having been invited to preach in Westminster Abbey on St. James Day, delivered a sermon of great fervor and eloquence. Only rarely did he visit the United States in his later years. He died in Port-au-Prince.

Achievements

• Holly went down to history as the first black bishop of the Protestant Episcopal church. He also remained one of the the most dedicated followers to establish schools, a church, and programs in pastoral training and countryside medicine.

Works

More photos

• book

  • A Vindication Of The Capacity Of The Negro Race For Self-government, And Civilized Progress, As Demonstrated By Historical Events Of The Haytian ... That People Since Their National Independence

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Facts About The Church's Mission In Haiti: A Concise Statement

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • VindicationNegro Race for Self-government

    (Lang- Tagalog, Pages 56 It is the reproduction of the ori...)

  • Black separatism and the Caribbean, 1860,

    (This book is in great condition.)

  • Defender of the Race: James Theodore Holly, Black Nationalist Bishop

    (Book by Dean, David M.)

Religion

Holly was a member of the Protestant Episcopal church.

Connections

In 1851 Holly married his wife Charlotte.

Father:

James Holly

Spouse:

Charlotte Holly