Jermain Wesley Loguen
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Jermain Wesley Loguen (c. 1813 - September 30, 1872) was an African American abolitionist and bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.
Loguen was born into slavery in Davidson County, Tennessee, the son of a white man, David Logue, and a slave named Cherry. At age 21, he successfully escaped bondage on his second attempt, stealing his master's horse and following the Underground Railroad north, finally crossing into Canada. Loguen added an "n" to the end of his last name, learned to read, worked various jobs in Canada and New York, studied at the Oneida Institute in Whitesboro, New York, opened schools for black children in Utica, New York and Syracuse, New York, and married. Logue settled in Syracuse, where his house became a major stop on the Underground Railroad.
Loguen became an elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and took the middle name Wesley after John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement. He held various church posts and was appointed bishop in 1868.
Loguen became a popular abolitionist speaker and authored an autobiography, The Rev. J. W. Loguen, as a Slave and as a Freeman, a Narrative of Real Life (1859). The wife of his former master, Sarah Logue, actually wrote Loguen demanding $1000 compensation. Loguen wrote a scathing reply which was published in The Liberator.
[edit] References
- Dictionary of American Biography, American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936.
- Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States.
