The impact of the AME Church on Bermuda has been profound, widespread, continuing and positive all the way, from the very beginning in the autumn of 1869 when three farsighted Christian men — Benjamin Burchall of St. George’s, William B. Jennings of Devonshire and Charles Roach Ratteray of Somerset — set in motion the wheels that brought African Methodism to the country.

That was a period when Bermuda’s black population was working overtime on all fronts, building their own admirable infrastructure. It was a mere 35 years after the blacks had been emancipated from centuries of slavery. At Emancipation in 1834 they had absolutely no infrastructure of their own: no shops, no churches, no schools.

They were landless and voteless, possessing only their indomitable spirits and strong faith in God.

Richard Allen’s creed, God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer and Man our Brother, had caught on in Bermuda. It consumed Brothers Burchall, Jennings and Ratteray, who were demonstrably dissatisfied with the racial situations wrought by the bureaucracy of the former slave owners that was designed for the continuing exploitation of their black brothers.

A succession of American Bishops, Presiding Elders, Pastors, and leaders each with great intellectual and spiritual powers seeded the Denomination early in its history. Generations of Bermudian AMEs caught the spirit and in short time began impacting on all aspects of the Island’s religious, social, cultural, educational and political life.

They built churches in every parish. They initiated the opening of schools, out of which our own intellectual giants evolved, becoming AME Bishops, Presiding Elders, Pastors, doctors, lawyers, educators and other leaders. They are impacting effectively at home in Bermuda, at the highest levels of Government. Among them a succession of Premiers, Cabinet Ministers, Speaker of the House of Assembly; President of the Bermuda Senate, Heads of Government Departments, Civil Servants and labour leaders.

At the same time Bermudian AMEs impact all over the United States, in Canada, the Caribbean and on the wide-world scene. Perhaps the most notable of the foregoing overseas products of Bermudian African Methodism is the (late) Rt. Rev. Vinton Randolph Anderson, BA, MA, MD., Ph.D(Harvard), and his wife Vivienne.

In 1972, he was elected the 92nd Bishop of the AME Church and later elected in Brisbane, Australia to a seven-year term as President of the World Council of Churches, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. He had offices in 100 countries, representing 318 religious groups and 518 constituents reaching out to Muslim and Jewish communities as well as the world’s Christians, all coming under his great ecumenical sweep.

Time and space permit citation of only three of the iconic local churchmen whose labours from the early pioneering days of the AME Church are having a continuing impact on Bermuda’s current affairs. They are the Reverends Austin Richardson, Rufus J. Stovell and R. H. Tobitt. The latter two were founders of the Bermuda Union of Teachers (now ABUT).

Rev. Richardson is profiled in the Memoirs, page of the Minutes of the 1927 AME Bermuda Annual Conference.

“Bro. Austin Richardson affectionately termed ‘”Father” by many of his colleagues, without any mere play of words, may truthfully be styled ‘Bermuda’s Grand Old Man of African Methodism.’

“For upwards of forty-five years, he was a member of this Conference, having been identified with the Church of Allen in Philadelphia in the pioneer days of its existence in the Colony.

“Amidst the misrepresentations and slander continuously levelled against the Church, in Bro. Richardson, she had a doughty champion, and a zealous vindicator of her rights and honour. And so, at every step of his career as a Christian Minister, there were clearly discoverable in his character, those sterling traits of loyalty and stability which enabled him to go forward unflinchingly in the path of duty pursuing the even tenor of his way against all odds. In his zeal for service, he overcame difficulties and obstacles, which many men would have deemed insurmountable.

“Rev. Richardson was a Church-builder having built Richard Allen — St. George’s; St. Phillip — Tucker’s Town; the New Church at Harris Bay, Bethel - Shelly Bay are monuments all to his energy, executive ability and loyalty to the causes he had espoused. But he has more enduring monuments than these. The memory of his splendid achievements for God and humanity are enshrined in the hearts of a grateful people throughout the length and breath of our Island Colony.

“Rev. Richardson was wise in counsel. His ripe experience, a thorough knowledge of the laws of our Church and of her early history in the Colony, blended in making him a source of help and inspiration to all.” Respectfully submitted, F. A. Lapsley and R. J. Stovell.

The intellectual breadth and depth of Rev. Stovell and Rev. Tobitt can be gleaned from the Minutes of the 36th Session of the AME Bermuda Annual Conference Report on Education and The Report on the State of The Country.

“Looking back on the years that have passed, and reviewing most carefully the educational history of Bermuda from whatever angle, the close observer can arrive at but one conclusion: the opportunities for educational advancement are lacking in the main, that the growth is consequently slow, and the achievements few and far in between.

“Knowledge is power, and this power can only be communicated through the process of education which includes the development and discipline of the faculty of the eye and hand, of the reason and imagination, and the knowledge of nature, art, science, and literature, when properly evoked and exercised — hence the value of education. That the opportunities are lacking and the growth slow can be proved from the fact, that the Government of this Colony has not a single school-building of its own to carry on Primary or Elementary education as it ought, no High Schools and Grammar Schools beyond private and aided institutions, no Colleges and Universities, in short, no real educational facilities for the betterment of the people.

“What is the result? The more ambitious of our young people emigrate to the nearest open field — to America the ’Land of opportunity.’ When they have drunk deep at the fountain of knowledge and have allayed their educational thirst, it is but natural that they in gratitude for benefits received and for further opportunities offered, prefer to solace in the country of their adoption, and thus become alienated or weaned from their native land to the detriment of ‘Beautiful Bermuda’ that has done little in the past ‘to gather her children under her wings.’

“There are several of her sons and daughters in foreign parts that are successfully climbing the ladder of fame in the literary, medical, mechanical and other spheres—such as a Burch, a Nearon and a Butterfield of the East, and Swan, a Smith and a Hinson of the Centre, and a Bean of the West. What inducements does Bermuda offer them so that they could, with discretion, work at home to the benefit of their own? A seed cannot grow into a plant, healthy and strong without the essentials — to the germ a certain degree of moisture, a due amount of warmth and a proper proportion of air — neither can a child develop unless it is fed on suitable and nourishing food. In like manner no nation can rise above its churches; citizens for, ‘A nation’s greatness depends upon the education and character of its people!’

“The AME Church locally, despite its shortcomings, has been a pioneer of higher education in Bermuda, so far as her ‘coloured’ population is concerned. “The Church has furnished Bermuda with the imperishable names of a DaCosta, a Barker, a Skerrett and many others from her sister colonies of the West Indies; and today the landmarks of her influence — directly or indirectly stand pre-eminent in the tangible form of a ‘Sandys Grammar School in the West, radiating from the Centre a ‘Berkeley Institute’, and in the East, ‘St. George’s High School.’ If, however, the seed sown is to yield more abundant fruit with its growth, there must be ‘reconstruction’ along educational and many other lines.

“In the work of reconstruction which must necessarily follow the conditions brought about by the late (1914-1918) titanic war of the nations, we, as citizens, can play a great part, unless we are prepared to stand still and see our rights trampled upon, and our privileges pass from our hands.

“We take pride in speaking of our present form of Government which form is, indeed, the most disagreeable one for us, providing, we as a people possess the franchise to the extent that we can put in the Legislative Council the majority representatives consisting of men who are not afraid to stand up, even against odds, and fight manfully for our rights as loyal citizens.

“Then we would see central schools spring up in which there could be no discrimination, no payment of school fees by parents and guardians for the elementary education of their children; our boys and girls who qualify would have the opportunity of filling important public positions according to merit irrespective of characteristics and the privileges that would accrue, are too numerous to mention.

“Let us not lose heart however, but as a people cooperate and agitate wisely for the things we need.

“Thank God, there has recently been a stirring of the waters and a rift in the dark clouds. The devout teachers in the colony who have a keen sense of their high and holy calling have taken a step in the right direction.

“In January of this present year (1919) an association known as ‘The Bermuda Teachers’ Union has been organised for the advancement of education in this colony.

“Let us by our cooperation in the land, and by a democratic spirit of aggressiveness, self-denial and self-determination we shall doubtless succeed. Signed: R.H. Tobitt, Chairman of the Committee.

It is a matter of fundamental interest to us all, seeing history repeating itself on this very date in February 2015. We recall the involvement of St. Paul’s AME Church’s — ”Rev. Byrd in the 1965 Belco event. Again St. Paul’s as a calming place during the 1977 disturbances, and today we see in the forefront of Bermuda’s social, political and labour events, the leadership of The Rev. Nicholas Tweed.

PICTURE TO USE IS: BUT (Bermuda Union of Teachers) founders - it should be in our archives