Powell, Adam Clayton, Sr.

Powell, Adam Clayton, Sr. (1865–1953) Protestant clergyman; born in Franklin Co., Va. The son of a recently freed slave and a German planter killed during the Civil War, he migrated to Ohio in 1884 and was converted at a revival meeting. He graduated from Wayland Seminary, Washington, D.C., in 1892 and held pastorates in New Haven, Conn. and, from 1908–37, at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City, where he preached racial pride and became a leader of the African-American community. He helped found the Urban League and was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's first board of directors.