United States for the Negro to learn or try to attain to.


SECOND PAPER.

WILL IT BE POSSIBLE FOR THE NEGRO TO ATTAIN, IN THIS COUNTRY, UNTO THE
AMERICAN TYPE OF CIVILIZATION?

BY BISHOP L. H. HOLSEY.

[Illustration: Bishop L. H. Holsey]

BISHOP L. H. HOLSEY.

Bishop Holsey was born a slave near Columbus, Ga., July 3,
1842. In 1862 he was married to Miss Harriet Turner, a young
girl who belonged to Bishop Geo. F. Pierce, of the M. E.
Church South, who performed the marriage ceremony in his own
house. His early life was spent in Sparta, La. He was
licensed to preach in 1868 in the M. E. Church South, and
served the Hancock circuit for nearly two years. In 1870 he
pastored the church in Savannah, Ga. Early in 1869 he became
a member of the colored conference which belonged to the M.
E. Church South. This conference was composed entirely of
colored ministers. At this conference Bishop Holsey was
ordained deacon by Bishop Pierce and a year later he was
ordained elder. In the fall of 1870 his conference elected
him a delegate to the first General Conference of the
Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, held in America. This
conference was held in Jackson, Tenn., where the first C. M.