Benjamin Tucker Tanner (December 25, 1835 – January 14, 1923) was an American clergyman and editor. He edited ''

The Christian Recorder ''The Christian Recorder'' is the official newspaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and is the oldest continuously published African-American newspaper in the United States. It has been called "arguably the most powerful black periodi ...

'', an influential African American Methodist newspaper, and later founded '' The AME Church Review,'' an academic journal. He also served as a bishop in the

African Methodist Episcopal Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Methodist denomination based in the United States. It adheres to Wesleyan theology, Wesleyan–Arminian theology and has a connexionalism, connexional polity. It ...

Early life and education

He was born on December 25, 1835, to Hugh and Isabella Tanner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He studied for five years at

Avery College Avery College was a private school for African-American students from 1849 until 1873 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. It was initially founded as an industrial school and AME church, and later transitioned into a school for classical education ...

, paying his expenses by working as a barber.Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. No. 247. GM Rewell & Company, 1887. pp. 985–88 As a student in Pittsburgh, his classmates included Jeremiah A. Brown,

Thomas Morris Chester Thomas Morris Chester (May 11, 1834 – September 30, 1892) was an American war correspondent, lawyer and soldier who took part in the American Civil War. Early life and education Chester was born at the corner of Third and Market Street in Har ...

, and James T. Bradford. He then studied for three years at Western Theological Seminary (now

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (PTS) is a Presbyterian graduate seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1794, it houses one of the largest theological libraries in the tri-state area. History Pittsburgh Theological Seminary was for ...

Career

At twenty five he was appointed to

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

by Bishop Daniel A. Payne, but he could not afford to go, so he moved to

Washington, D. C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

where he organized a Sunday School for freed slaves in the Navy Yard with the permission of Admiral John A. Dahlgren. In 1863 he became pastor of a church in Georgetown. In 1866 he moved to a large church in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. Shortly later he was appointed principal of the Annual Conference School at

Fredericktown, Maryland Fredericktown is an unincorporated community in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. The ''Elf'' racing yacht is located in the Sassafras River at Fredericktown, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 26, 1980. F ...

, and he organized a common school under the auspices of the

Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. government agency of early post American Civil War Reconstruction, assisting freedmen (i.e., former enslaved people) in the ...

. In 1868 he was elected chief secretary of the general conference of the AME church and founded and became editor of the church newspaper, the ''Christian Recorder'', a role he served for 16 years. In 1870 he was given an A. M. degree by Avery College and in the 1870s he was given an honorary D. D. by

Wilberforce University Wilberforce University (WU) is a private university in Wilberforce, Ohio. It is one of three historically black universities established before the American Civil War. Founded in 1856 by the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC), it is named after ...

. In 1884 he was made editor of the ''A. M. E. Review'', and he was the author of a number of books and pamphlets in the 1870s and 1880s, including: 'Apology for African Methodism;' 'The Negro's Origin; and Is He Cursed of God,' 'An Outline of our History and Government;' 'The Negro, African and American.' In 1889, Tanner was focused on missionary work in Haiti and

William B. Derrick William B. Derrick (July 27, 1843 – April 15, 1913) was an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) bishop and missionary. He began his career as a seaman and later served in the Union Navy during the US Civil War. Following the war, he transitioned ...

was serving as mission secretary. In August, it was found that the mission treasury was empty. AME leader, Daniel A. Payne demanded of Derrick what had happened to the funds. Derrick had been giving money to the Haitian mission in cash, which was not in itself a cause of trouble, but may have led to misuse of the funds. Tanner was hesitant to settle the dispute, but Derrick improved his place in the view of the AME leaders over the next few years and the pair reconciled. He was a participant in the March 5, 1897, meeting to celebrate the memory of Frederick Douglass which founded the

American Negro Academy The American Negro Academy (ANA), founded in Washington, D.C., in 1897, was the first organization in the United States to support African-American academic scholarship. It operated until 1928,Smith and encouraged African Americans to undertake cla ...

led by

Alexander Crummell Alexander Crummell (March 3, 1819 – September 10, 1898) was an American minister and academic. Ordained as an Episcopal priest in the United States, Crummell went to England in the late 1840s to raise money for his church by lecturing about A ...

. Until 1905, he was a participating member of this first major African American learned society, which was led by scholars, activist, editors, and bishops like Tanner. It refuted racist scholarship, promoted black claims to individual, social, and political equality, and studied the history and sociology of African American life.Alfred A. Moss. The American Negro Academy: Voice of the Talented Tenth. Louisiana State University Press, 1981.

Personal life and death

Tanner was the husband of Sarah Elizabeth Tanner, and was the father of artist

Henry Ossawa Tanner Henry Ossawa Tanner (June 21, 1859 – May 25, 1937) was an American artist who spent much of his career in France. He became the first African-American art, African-American painter to gain international acclaim. Tanner moved to Paris, France, ...

and the physician Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson, and the grandfather of

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (January 2, 1898 – November 1, 1989) was a pioneering Black professional and civil rights activist of the early-to-mid-20th century. In 1921, Mossell Alexander was the second African-American woman to receive a ...

. Tanner died on January 14, 1923, in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Early life and education

Career

Personal life and death

References

Further reading