Daniel Alexander Payne is born on February 24, 1811 in Charleston, South Carolina 

At the age of 12, and after the deaths of both parents, Daniel Payne enters the workforce and works as a carpenter, shoe merchant, and tailor.

Payne opens his first school for black children when he is 19 years old.

“It consisted of 3 children, for each of whom [I] was paid fifty cents a month. I also taught 3 adult slaves at night, at the same price, thus making my monthly income from teaching only three dollars.”  —Daniel Payne, Recollection of Seventy Years

A few months later, Payne closes his school to seek better payment. He is recommended to a wealthy slave-owner seeking the services of a free, educated man of color to accompany him on an upcoming trip to the West Indies.

“If you will go with me, the knowledge that you will acquire of men and things will be of far more value to you than the wages I will pay you. Do you know what makes the difference between the master and the slave? Nothing but superior knowledge.”  —Slaveowner seeking Daniel Payne’s employment, Recollection of Seventy Years

Payne listens to the advice above but does not accept the position. Instead he reopens his school. This time he attracts so many students that they outgrow their building. Payne moves the school to a new location.

Nat Turner leads his fellow slaves in a revolt in Southampton County, Virginia. In August 1831, Turner and his rebels kill nearly 60 people, most of whom are white slave owners. The rebels free the slaves. Nat Turner is eventually caught and executed.

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Nat Turner’s Rebellion prompts law makers to severely limit the rights of black people. Under this bill, it is unlawful to teach any person of color, free or enslaved, to read or write.

“…And if a free person of color or slave shall keep any school, or other place of instruction, for teaching any slave or free person of color to read or write, such free person of color or slave shall be liable to [a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars], imprisonment and corporal punishment…”  —From South Carolina Bill No. 2639

Payne closes his school, moves north, and enrolls in the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Daniel A. Payne is ordained the first black minister in the Lutheran Church in Fordsboro, New York. A few years later, he leaves the Lutheran Church and joins the African Methodist Episcopal.

Payne leads the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee. Its purpose is to aid slaves escaping the South, trying to reach freedom in Canada. The Committee provides food, clothing, shelter, and other assistance.

Payne marries his first wife, Julia Ferris, who dies a year later during childbirth.

Payne is elected 6th bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He marries his second wife, Eliza J. Clark.

Bishop Payne is selected to lead Wilberforce University in Ohio, making him the first African American to lead a university.

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Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne dies in Xenia, Ohio on November 2, 1893. He is buried in Laurel Cemetery in Johnsville, Maryland.

At the time of Bishop Payne’s death, Frederick Douglass (left), the former slave who rose to prominence as an American social reformer, wrote in praise of Payne’s character and life’s work. On the first page of his remarks (right) Douglass states, “…no man had ever gone down to the grave deserving more honor for his service to mankind. His was a life without a flaw, and a name without a blemish. His virtue commanded respect, his piety awed even wicked men into reverence. His body was small, but his character was large; his voice was feeble, but his words were weighty and powerful; his attainments were great, but his life was greater.”

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