Lunch & Learn: The Missionary: William Levington, Founder of St. James First African Protestant Episcopal Church

Registration not required, but encouraged. Please register for the event here.

Explore the life and times of the first ordained African American priest in the American South. Professor Lawrence Jackson will describe the life and works of William Levington, the founder of the St. James First African Protestant Episcopal Church in Baltimore in 1824. The church, now known as St. James in Lafayette Square, recently celebrated its 200^th anniversary.

Lawrence Jackson is the author of the award-winning books Chester B. Himes: A Biography (W.W. Norton 2017), The Indignant Generation: A Narrative History of African American Writers and Critics (Princeton 2010), My Father’s Name: A Black Virginia Family after the Civil War (Chicago 2012) and Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius, 1913-1952 (Wiley 2002). His latest books are Hold It Real Still: Clint Eastwood, Race, and the Cinema of the American West (Johns Hopkins University Press 2022) and Shelter: A Black Tale from Homeland, Baltimore (Graywolf 2022).  He teaches English and history at Johns Hopkins University and writes occasionally for Harper’s Magazine.

ASL interpretation will be available for attendees.

Presented in partnership with The Maryland State Archives and The Maryland Four Centuries Project.