was born in the Kabadeh quarter of the southern Liberia town of Greenville on 30 September 1971. His father was Kwetii Blahyi, a man who was a priest of the god Nya-Ghe-A-Weh, a deity worshipped by members of the Sarpo branch of the Krahn ethnic community. According to Blahyi, Nya-Ghe-A-Whe regularly communicated directly with his father. Blahyi was also an accountant for Steve Tolbert, a wealthy businessman and minister who was the brother of William Tolbert, who was president of Liberia from 1971 to 1979 Elders in Kabadeh forced Kwetii Blahyi to become a priest Although Blahyi s father was married to Ma Saybah elders believed that Blahyi needed to provide an heir to the priesthood with another woman Blahyi believed elders in his community bewitched his father to become intimate with Elizabeth Pantoe who like Kwetii was married to someone else Pantoe s father was said to ...
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Blahyi, Joshua Milton
Jeremy Rich
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Gumbs, George Anderson
Don E. Walicek
was born on 28 March 1899 in the British colony of Anguilla. His parents were Eliza J. Gumbs, a homemaker, and Samuel Anderson Gumbs, a fisherman and farmer. Gumbs had four sisters and numerous half-brothers and half-sisters. He grew up in the island’s central village, The Valley.
Gumbs attended The Valley’s Boys School and finished his formal education at a very young age. Poverty was widespread in Anguilla and wage labor scarce, so he migrated in search of work, like many of his male peers. Though he traveled to the Dominican Republic, Gumbs eventually sailed for Cuba with his youngest brother, John.
In Cuba, Gumbs met a Jamaican and Ethiopian spiritual leader, perhaps someone linked with the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, who nurtured his interests in religion. The story passed down to his descendants explains that on 3 April 1926 as he and his brother worked in a ...
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Mix, Sarah Ann Freeman
Linda Spencer
first African American female faith healing evangelist, was born Sarah Ann Freeman, one of thirteen children, in Torrington, Connecticut, the daughter of Datus and Lois Freeman Little is known about her parents except that Mix was born of a consumptive family and tuberculosis deeply affected her life eventually taking both her father and mother s lives Mix 8 Both her parents were professing Christians and Mix attended Sabbath school where she was taught to fear evil and to choose the good Mix 201 These teachings left a deep impression on Mix and throughout her life she tried to be a Christian in spirit and action How many years Mix attended day school is unknown She experienced a stark realization when a younger brother with whom she attended school suddenly sickened and died the next day apparently from poison With his sudden death she realized the depth of ...
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Morgan, Sister Gertrude
Born in Lafayette, Alabama, Sister Gertrude Morgan became an evangelist and moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1939. She took the title “Sister” in the 1950s when, with two other street missionaries, she founded a church and an orphanage.
Morgan began painting in 1956, concentrating primarily on religious visions and biblical scenes. She believed that she was mystically married to Jesus Christ which she symbolized by dressing entirely in white Her paintings frequently depicted her with Jesus as bride and groom often with herself in black before and in white after the marriage As a street preacher Morgan eschewed the formal art world preferring to make folk art with any material at hand including Styrofoam cardboard lamp shades and jelly jars Her work frequently includes calligraphy which communicates a spiritual message or a biblical verse All her inspiration she felt came from God saying He moves ...
