Gowan Pamphlet was in the first generation of black evangelical leaders who gained respect among their white brethren without abandoning their distinct ethnic identity.
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I met Gowan Pamphlet (1748–1807) when he was sitting on a bench outside a cemetery. It wasn’t really Pamphlet, of course; it was a man named James Ingram, who portrays the colonial-era Baptist preacher at Colonial Williamsburg. Ingram spoke about the lives of the enslaved represented in the cemetery and the African Baptist Church they worshiped in. I walked away wanting to know more about Pamphlet and his theological legacy.
Unfortunately, we know little about Pamphlet’s early life. The earliest reference to him is an ad in the Virginia Gazette from July 3, 1779, that accuses him of stealing a horse, which was an offense worthy of hanging. In that account, he’s listed as the property of Jane Vobe, a tavern keeper in Williamsburg.
