Born free in South Carolina, Daniel came North at an early age and was initially a school teacher in Philadelphia before he left his connection with the Methodist church and joined the African Methodist Episcopal church. In 1852, he was elected AME bishop and his tenure was called the most significant since that of Richard Allen’s, the church founder. It was Payne who purchased Wilberforce College in 1863 from white Methodists and made it the first black college in the US. Payne served as its president. Daniel is recognized for his work that not only improved the...

Tanner was a leading clergyman, editor and intellectual of his day. Ordained as an AME minister and an editor of the church's publication, the Christian Recorder, he became an important voice for equality and for memorizing African American heritage and contributions to the world. O.V. Catto became one of his dearest friends and it was Bishop Tanner, who first sought have a memorial erected for Catto. Tanner was among the founding members, with W.E. B. DuBois, of the American Negro Academy led by Alexander Crummell. Tanner was the father of artist Henry Ossawa Tanner and the grandfather of Sadie...