Black Women in America – Part 39
For nearly a year and a half we have recounted the stories of scores of remarkable black women in America. There are thousands of great stories, but we limited our posts to Black Female Firsts. In an upcoming post I will do a bibliography for you so that you can get further information.
Last week we related the stories of religious leaders who ministered in the United States as preachers and evangelists – Amanda Berry Smith, Zilpha Elaw, Jarena Lee, Julia A. J. Foote. This week we will look at the lives of Black Women in Missions.
Betsey Stockton (1798-1865) – First Black Female Missionary
Eliza Davis-George (1879-1979) – Mother to Thousands of Liberians
Betsey Stockton – (1798-1865) First Black Female Missionary
Betsey Stockton was born into slavery around 1798 in Princeton, New Jersey. She served the Stockton family until the daughter, Elizabeth married Reverend Ashbel Green of Philadelphia. Betsey then served as a child slave for Mrs. Green until the latter’s death. Rev. Green was the pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Later he became the president of Princeton University.
Betsey was allowed to attend evening classes at Princeton. In 1815, revival broke out on campus. Betsey responded in faith and her life took a dramatic change. She was baptized at Princeton’s First Presbyterian Church. The Greens were abolitionists and gave Betsey her freedom. However, because the gradual emancipation law did not come into effect until 1825, Betsey remained with the Greens as a paid domestic servant.
Though a servant, the Greens treated her like one of the family and allowed her to continue with her classes. While there she felt a desire to go to Africa as a missionary. God had other ideas. A friend of the family, Charles Samuel Stewart was endeavoring to go to Hawaii. Betsey said that she would like to go along.
She received permission from the American Board of Commissions for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) for the trip, but she was required to pay her own way. She saved her wages and the Greens helped her by making up the difference. When she went to Hawaii her status as servant was overlooked and Betsey was treated as a Christian friend.
The missionary team arrived in Hawaii in April 1823. Betsey was assigned to a mission in Lahaina, Maui. When Betsey arrived she became the first single American woman to journey overseas as a missionary and the first African American woman to serve in Hawaii.
She wanted to start a school for the Maka’ainana people of the island. Before Betsey came the chiefs had not been allowing missionaries to teach the common people. But in August 1824, they changed their minds and allowed Betsey to open the school. Betsey had no formal training but she had aptitude and intelligence. She also brought a love for the common people which may have been influenced by her own upbringing as a slave.
Betsey had begun to learn Hawaiian from the time she landed on the island. When she started the school she was able to teach history, English, Latin, and algebra. Betsey was so busy with her school that she had little time for religious activities. The missionaries felt that all activity done for God’s glory to help others is really religious activity. And education was valuable for the people to be able to read the Bible. Betsey contributed a significant piece to the evangelization of the native Hawaiian people.
In 1825 Mrs. Stewart’s health declined. It was decided that Betsey should accompany her back to the United States. Before she left Hawaii, Betsey trained native Hawaiian teachers. They carried on the work after she left.
When she returned home, Betsey taught in Philadelphia. She also established a school for indigenous Canadians at Grape Island, Canada. Eventually she returned to Princeton where she taught at the school for “colored” people until her death in 1865.[1]
Betsey also helped to establish the first African American Presbyterian Church in Princeton in 1848, known today as the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church.[2] She started a night school in the church where Princeton seminary students could come to teach African American history, English, literature, and math.
Today, Betsey is admired for her courage, her commitment to education, and her faithfulness to her calling. She is one of the many women who became a first, not because she was trying to, but because she applied herself to serve her Lord Jesus by serving others.
Eliza Davis-George – (1879-1979) – Mother to Thousands of Liberians
Mother Eliza may not have been a first as a black female missionary, but her sixty years of dedication to the people of Liberia earns her a special place in African American history.
I did a lengthy post on Eliza Davis-George a few years ago.[3] I just want to summarize her life here, but you can go to the link below and read about this amazing centenarian who devoted her life to bringing others to Christ.
My African brother is calling me;
Hark! Hark! I hear his voice.
In a land more dense with work I see
That work is now my choice. *
For over six decades Eliza Davis-George ministered to her African brethren in Liberia. She endured poverty and hardship for the sake of taking the Gospel to her people. Though she constantly had to labor to get support she never wavered from her call. Today thousands of her spiritual children are glad for their Mother Eliza.
Eliza was born in Texas in 1879. She was raised as a Baptist to parents who were former slaves. Eliza accepted Christ for her salvation when she was sixteen years old.
She received her call from God to serve as a missionary in 1911. She had an overwhelming desire to visit her African brothers and sisters. She had to wait until she had the support and left for Liberia in 1913. She and another missionary opened a school for children. Like Betsey Stockton, Eliza believed that education should include real-life training as well as the Bible. Her Bible Industrial Academy started with fifty pupils and in the next two years she saw over 1,000 people accept Christ in the nearby villages.
Eliza married Dr. C. Thompson George in 1919. She had adopted an orphan, Maude and would later adopt Cecelia and Cerella. Girls were badly treated in Liberia and the George’s were happy to give them a home. Several of the girls would go to the United States for an education.
Sadly, Eliza’s marriage was full of conflict. Dr. George had many problems including drinking. He could be moody and mistreat the children. After twenty years of marriage Dr. George died of an illness in 1939. Eliza was on her own again.
Mother Eliza had also welcomed a young man into their group. His African name was Doh, but he took a different name when he decided to join the Christian church – Augustus Marwieh. He would be affectionately called Gus.
Gus was a good student and even at the age of fifteen was beginning to get a reputation as a preacher. He would become the spiritual son who would carry on Eliza’s work in Liberia and other parts of Africa.
Mother Eliza was often poor, but God always met her needs. She carried on her work for six decades. This seemingly tireless woman worked among the poor unselfishly and saw many turn to the Savior.
In 1978 ninety-nine-year-old Mother Eliza was still going strong. While in Texas on a deputation trip she broke her hip. Cecelia moved her into a nursing home. On January 20, 1979, Mother Eliza celebrated her 100thbirthday. She attended the local Baptist church, even giving a speech. A few days later Mother Eliza was rushed to the hospital with pneumonia. Cecelia stayed at her side until Mother Eliza went home to be with the Lord on March 8, 1979.
Mother Eliza had witnessed the conversion to Christianity of thousands of Liberians. Gus would carry on the work. He founded the Africa College of Evangelism. He moved to Monrovia in 1982 where he ministered to government officials and business leaders.
Gus appeared on Dr. Schuller’s TV program. Gus also started a prison ministry, a ministry for children, a missionary training school, and a technical high school just like the one Mother George started.
Mother George’s former students were responsible for planting and serving in hundreds of churches. Truly thousands of her spiritual children “rise up and bless her.”
[1] “Colored” was the term used in that day. I try to keep these posts accurate historically. Of course today we use “black” or “African American”.
[2] Here is the church’s web address: https://www.witherspoonchurch.org
[3] Mother Eliza Davis George. https://authormarywalker.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=4915&action=edit
