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10 Black Pastors Who Died In Poverty · Gil I Am

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Speaker 1: It is the lack of money, more than the love
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Speaker 1: of money, that is the root of all evil. I
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Speaker 1: think people do more evil things because of the lack
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Speaker 1: of money than because of the plentitude of money.
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Speaker 2: These pastors went from millions to nothing, Rolls, Royce's, mansions,
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Speaker 2: Grammy Awards gone. Today we're counting down ten black pastors
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Speaker 2: who died in poverty, and trust me, some of these
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Speaker 2: stories will shock you to the core. Let's start with
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Speaker 2: the first story. A man who preached prosperity, lived like
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Speaker 2: a king, but died drowning in debt one Frederick J.
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Speaker 2: Ker and Coder. The second. Our first story might surprise
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Speaker 2: you because Reverend Ike was famous for being anything but poor.
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Speaker 2: This man literally preached that God wanted you to be rich,
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Speaker 2: and for a while he lived that message to the fullest.
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Speaker 2: Frederic Keran Coder. The second, better known as Reverend Ike,
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Speaker 2: was the king of the prosperity gospel before it was
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Speaker 2: even called that. In the nineteen seventies and eighties, this
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Speaker 2: flamboyant preacher was pulling in millions of dollars a year.
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Speaker 2: We're talking about a man who owned multiple rolls royces,
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Speaker 2: lived in mansions, and wore custom made suits that cost
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Speaker 2: more than most people's cars. Reverend Ike didn't just preach prosperity,
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Speaker 2: he performed it. His television shows reached millions, His mail
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Speaker 2: order ministry was a massive operation, and his New York
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Speaker 2: headquarters was like a spiritual Wall Street. People sent him
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Speaker 2: money from all over the world, believing his promise that
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Speaker 2: if they gave to his ministry, God would bless them financially.
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Speaker 2: But here's where the story takes a dark turn. All
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Speaker 2: that money flowing in caught the attention of some very
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Speaker 2: serious people, the US Postal Service and the Internal Revenue Service.
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Speaker 2: When government investigators start looking at your books, you know
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Speaker 2: you're in trouble. The IRS began an investigating Reverend Ike's
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Speaker 2: business practices in the late nineteen eighties. They wanted to
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Speaker 2: know where all that money was really going. The Postal
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Speaker 2: Service got involved because of his massive mail order operations. Suddenly,
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Speaker 2: the man who preached that poverty was a sin found
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Speaker 2: himself drowning in legal fees and government scrutiny. The investigations
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Speaker 2: revealed that while Reverend Ike was living large, his business
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Speaker 2: practices were questionable. At best, Millions of dollars that should
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Speaker 2: have gone to legitimate ministry. Work seemed to have disappeared
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Speaker 2: into personal expenses and luxury items. The government wanted its cut,
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Speaker 2: and they wanted it with interest and penalties. By the
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Speaker 2: time Reverend Ike died in two thousand and nine, the
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Speaker 2: empire he'd built had crumbled. The legal battles had eaten
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Speaker 2: up his fortune. The man who once owned multiple luxury
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Speaker 2: cars and mansions left behind debts that far exceeded his assets.
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Speaker 2: His family was left to sort through a fire financial
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Speaker 2: mess that took years to unravel. Second Reverend James Cleveland.
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Speaker 2: Reverend James Cleveland was known as the King of gospel music.
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Speaker 2: This man didn't just preach from the pulpit. He sang
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Speaker 2: his way into the hearts of millions. His voice could
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Speaker 2: make a stone weep, and his arrangements turned traditional gospel
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Speaker 2: into something that could fill Madison Square Garden. Cleveland founded
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Speaker 2: the Gospel Music Workshop of America, an organization that still
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Speaker 2: training gospel artists today. He recorded dozens of albums, won
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Speaker 2: multiple Grammy Awards, and worked with legends like Aretha Franklin.
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Speaker 2: When this man walked into a room, people knew they
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Speaker 2: were in the presence of greatness, but Cleveland's greatest strength,
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Speaker 2: his ability to connect with people on a deep personal level,
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Speaker 2: may have also been his downfall. After his death in
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Speaker 2: nineteen ninety one, his estate was valued at several million dollars.
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Speaker 2: That should have been good news for his family. Right wrong.
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Speaker 2: The moment Cleveland died, the vultures circled. Suddenly, people were
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Speaker 2: coming out of the woodwork claiming to be his children.
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Speaker 2: Others claimed they had special relationships with him that entitled
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Speaker 2: them to pieces of his fortune. What should have been
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Speaker 2: a time of mourning turned into an all out legal war.
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Speaker 2: The most damaging claims weren't about money. They were about
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Speaker 2: Cleveland's personal conduct. A foster son came forward with allegations
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Speaker 2: of sexual abuse. These weren't just whispers or rumors. They
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Speaker 2: were serious allegations that led to a legal settlement that
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Speaker 2: cost the estate a significant amount of money. As the
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Speaker 2: legal battles dragged on, Cleveland's estate was slowly picked apart.
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Speaker 2: Lawyers got their fees, settlements were paid, court costs mounted.
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Speaker 2: Family members fought each other over what was left. The
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Speaker 2: man who had built a gospel empire worth millions left
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Speaker 2: behind a financial mess that took years to sort out.
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Speaker 2: By the time all the dust had settled, there wasn't
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Speaker 2: much left of Cleveland's fortune. The legal fees, settlements, and
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Speaker 2: family disputes had consumed most of it. The king of
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Speaker 2: gospel music, who had filled arenas and sold millions of records,
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Speaker 2: left his true heirs with far less than they deserved. Three.
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Speaker 2: Bishop Gilbert E. Patterson. Bishop Gilbert E. Patterson was a
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Speaker 2: giant in the Church of God in Christ's denomination. This
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Speaker 2: man took his Temple of Deliverance Ministry from a small
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Speaker 2: congregation to a massive operation that reached thousands. Under his leadership,
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Speaker 2: the church didn't just grow, it exploded. Patterson was the
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Speaker 2: kind of leader who could see the big picture. He
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Speaker 2: expanded his ministry's reach, built new facilities, and turned Temple
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Speaker 2: of Deliverance into one of the most influential churches in Memphis, Tennessee.
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Speaker 2: People traveled from other states just to hear him preach.
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Speaker 2: His sermons were broadcast on radio and television, spreading his
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Speaker 2: influence far beyond the walls of his church. What made
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Speaker 2: Patterson special wasn't just his preaching, It was his business sense.
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Speaker 2: He understood that to reach more people, you needed more
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Speaker 2: than just a good message. You needed infrastructure, technology, and resources.
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Speaker 2: So he invested heavily in building something that would last.
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Speaker 2: But here's where Patterson's story gets complicated. Despite all the success,
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Speaker 2: despite the growing congregation and expanding ministry, there are indications
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Speaker 2: that his estate faced debt disputes after his death. How
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Speaker 2: does a successful ministry end up in financial trouble? The
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Speaker 2: truth is, building a religious empire is expensive. Those television
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Speaker 2: broadcasts cost money. Expanding facilities require massive investments, staff, salaries, equipment, maintenance.
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Speaker 2: It all adds up faster than most people realize. Sometimes
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Speaker 2: even successful ministries can find themselves stretched too thin. Patterson
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Speaker 2: may have been so focused on growth and expansion that
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Speaker 2: he over extended the ministry's finances. Or maybe there were
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Speaker 2: business deals that didn't work out as planned. Perhaps family
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Speaker 2: members or business partners made financial decisions that created problems
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Speaker 2: down the line. Whatever the exact cause, the fact that
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Speaker 2: there were debt disputes after Patterson's death suggests that even
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Speaker 2: his successful ministry wasn't as financially solid as it appeared.
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Speaker 2: The man who built something impressive may have built it
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Speaker 2: on shaky financial ground. Fourth Reverend Solomon Burke. Reverend Solomon
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Speaker 2: Burke lived two lives, and both of them were extraordinary.
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Speaker 2: By day, he was a powerful preacher who could move
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Speaker 2: congregations to tears. By night, he was a soul singer
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Speaker 2: whose voice helped create an entire genre of music. The
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Speaker 2: man was literally called the King of Rock and Soul.
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Speaker 2: Burke didn't see any contradiction between preaching on Sunday and
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Speaker 2: singing in clubs on Saturday night. He believed music was ministry,
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Speaker 2: whether it was gospel or soul. His hit songs like
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Speaker 2: Cry to Me and Everybody Needs Somebody to Love weren't
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Speaker 2: just entertainment. They were expressions of the human experience that
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Speaker 2: connected with people's souls. But Burke's dual career created unique challenges.
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Speaker 2: The music industry in the nineteen sixties and seventies was
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Speaker 2: notorious for taking advantage of artists, especially black artists. Record
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Speaker 2: companies would sign musicians to contracts that gave the artists
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Speaker 2: almost nothing while the companies made millions. Burke, like many
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Speaker 2: artists of his era, got caught in this system. Despite
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Speaker 2: creating music that still played today. Despite influencing countless other artists,
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Speaker 2: Burke struggled financially throughout his life. There were periods when
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Speaker 2: this man who had filled concert halls and had his
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Speaker 2: songs played on radios around the world, was actually homeless.
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Speaker 2: Burke tried to diversify his income with various entrepreneurial projects.
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Speaker 2: He owned funeral homes, restaurants, and other businesses, but these
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Speaker 2: ventures were hit and miss. Some succeeded for a while,
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Speaker 2: others failed quickly. Throughout it all, Burke kept preaching and
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Speaker 2: kept singing, but financial stability seemed to always slip through
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Speaker 2: his fingers. Later in his career, Burke experienced a renaissance.
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Speaker 2: Younger musicians discovered his music and began working with him.
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Speaker 2: He won a Grammy Award and gained new recognition for
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Speaker 2: his contributions to American music, but decades of poor money
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Speaker 2: management and industry exploitation had taken their toll. Burke's story
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Speaker 2: is particularly frustrating because his influence was enormous. Musicians from
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Speaker 2: the Rolling Stones to Bruce Springsteen have cited him as
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Speaker 2: an inflam us. His songs have been covered by hundreds
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Speaker 2: of artists, yet the man who helped create the soundtrack
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Speaker 2: of American music struggled to pay his bills. When Burke
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Speaker 2: died in twenty ten, he left behind an incredible musical legacy,
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Speaker 2: but very little money. Fifth Reverend Adam Clayton Powell Junior.
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Speaker 2: Adam Clayton Powell Junior was a man who refused to
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Speaker 2: stay in his lane, and America was better for it.
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Speaker 2: As the pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, he
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Speaker 2: could have simply focused on Sunday sermons. Instead, he became
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Speaker 2: one of the most powerful politicians in America, fighting for
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Speaker 2: civil rights when it was dangerous to do so. Powell
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Speaker 2: was elected to Congress in nineteen forty five at a
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Speaker 2: time when there were very few black representatives in Washington.
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Speaker 2: But he didn't go there to be quiet or polite.
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Speaker 2: He used his position to push for civil rights legislation,
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Speaker 2: to challenge discrimination, and to fight for his community in
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Speaker 2: ways that made a lot of powerful people very uncomfortable.
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Speaker 2: This man had style and wasn't afraid to show it.
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Speaker 2: He drove expensive cars, wore tailored suits, and lived a
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Speaker 2: lifestyle that his critics said was too extravagant for a
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Speaker 2: man of God. But Powell didn't apologize for his success.
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Speaker 2: He believed that black leaders should look successful, should demand respect,
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Speaker 2: and should never apologize for taking up space. Powell's political
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Speaker 2: career was incredibly effective. He helped pass important civil rights
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Speaker 2: legislation and used his committee chairmanship to advance causes that
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Speaker 2: helped millions of Americans. But his lavish lifestyle and controversial
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Speaker 2: financial affairs made him a target for his enemies. As
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Speaker 2: Powell's influence grew, so did the scrutiny of his finances.
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Speaker 2: His critics accused him of using public funds for personal trips,
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Speaker 2: of padding expense accounts, and of mixing his political and
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Speaker 2: personal finances in ways that weren't appropriate. Whether these accusations
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Speaker 2: were entirely fair or partly motivated by racism is still
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Speaker 2: debated today. The investigations into Powell's finances eventually led to
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Speaker 2: his political downfall. He was censured by Congress, lost his
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Speaker 2: committee chairmanship, and eventually lost his seat. The man who
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Speaker 2: had been one of the most powerful politicians in America
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Speaker 2: found himself on the outside looking in. By the time
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Speaker 2: Powell died in nineteen seventy two, his political career was
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Speaker 2: over and his finances were in ruins. The legal battles,
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Speaker 2: the lost income from his political career, and the mounting
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Speaker 2: debts had consumed whatever wealth he had accumulated. He died
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Speaker 2: in near poverty in the Bahamas, far from the Harlem
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Speaker 2: community he had fought so hard to represent. Sixth Reverend C. L. Franklin.
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Speaker 2: Reverend C. L. Franklin was known as the man with
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Speaker 2: the Million Dollar Voice. Long before his daughter Aretha became
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Speaker 2: the Queen of Soul, C. L. Franklin was already a
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Speaker 2: legend in his own right. His sermons weren't just spiritual experiences.
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Speaker 2: They were performances that could move thousands of people to tears, laughter,
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Speaker 2: and everything in between. Franklin's preaching style was revolutionary. He
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Speaker 2: didn't just deliver sermons, he crafted them like musical compositions,
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Speaker 2: with rhythm, timing and emotional crescendos that left audiences breathless.
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Speaker 2: His recordings of sermons like The Eagle Stirreth her Nest
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Speaker 2: are still studied today as masterpieces of American oratory. But
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Speaker 2: Franklin wasn't just a great preacher. He was also a
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Speaker 2: smart businessman and a civil rights activist. He worked closely
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Speaker 2: with Martin Luther King Junior, participated in the March on Washington,
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Speaker 2: and used his platform to fight for justice. His new
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Speaker 2: Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit became a center of both
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Speaker 2: spiritual and political activity. Franklin also recognized his daughter Aretha's
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Speaker 2: talent early and helped guide her career. He knew the
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Speaker 2: music business and used his connections to help launch what
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Speaker 2: would become one of the most successful careers in American
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Speaker 2: music history. Everything changed on June tenth, nineteen seventy nine.
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Speaker 2: Franklin was at his home when two men broke in
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Speaker 2: and shot him during what appeared to be a robbery attempt.
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Speaker 2: The shooting left him in a coma that lasted for
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Speaker 2: five years until his death in nineteen eighty four. Those
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Speaker 2: five years of medical care were incredibly expensive. The costs
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Speaker 2: of round the clock nursing, hospital stays, and medical treatments
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Speaker 2: quickly mounted. Meanwhile, Franklin's income stopped almost entirely. The man
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Speaker 2: who had been earning significant money from his church salary,
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Speaker 2: speaking engagements and sermon recordings was suddenly generating massive expenses
14:54
Speaker 2: with no income. The management of Franklin's estate during his
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Speaker 2: coma and after his death became complicated. There were questions
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Speaker 2: about how his affairs were being handled, disputes over his care,
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Speaker 2: and later significant legal battles over his financial legacy and
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Speaker 2: that of his famous daughter. When Franklin died in nineteen
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Speaker 2: eighty four. What should have been a substantial estate had
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Speaker 2: been largely consumed by medical expenses and the financial complications
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Speaker 2: that arose from his long incapacitation. The man with the
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Speaker 2: million dollar voice left behind far less than his contributions
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Speaker 2: to American culture deserved. Seven Reverend Elijah Mohammed. Elijah Mohammed
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Speaker 2: wasn't just a religious leader. He was the architect of
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Speaker 2: one of the most influential black nationalist movements in American history.
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Speaker 2: As the leader of the Nation of Islam from nineteen
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Speaker 2: thirty four until his death in nineteen seventy five, he
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Speaker 2: built an organization that included farms, businesses, schools, and temples
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Speaker 2: across the country. Under Mohammed's leadership, the Nation of Islam
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Speaker 2: became more than just a religious organization. It was an
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Speaker 2: economic empire. They owned farm land, ran restaurants and grocery stores,
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Speaker 2: operated schools, and built a network of businesses that employed
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Speaker 2: thousands of people. Mohammed preached black self reliance and economic independence,
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Speaker 2: and he put his money where his mouth was. Mohammed's
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Speaker 2: message attracted followers who were willing to work hard and
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Speaker 2: sacrifice for the cause. Members of the Nation of Islam
16:36
Speaker 2: were disciplined, organized, and dedicated to building something lasting. They
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Speaker 2: created businesses, accumulated property, and built wealth as a community.
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Speaker 2: But Mohammed's leadership wasn't without controversy. His teachings included beliefs
16:52
Speaker 2: that were rejected by mainstream Islam and mainstream society. He
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Speaker 2: preached racial separation at a time when the civil rights
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Speaker 2: movement was fighting for integration. His organization was viewed with
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Speaker 2: suspicion by the FBI and other government agencies. The most
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Speaker 2: famous controversy came when Malcolm X, Mohammed's most prominent follower,
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Speaker 2: broke with the Nation of Islam and began criticizing Mohammad's
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Speaker 2: personal conduct. Malcolm X's accusations about Mohammad's private life created
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Speaker 2: a scandal that rocked the organization and led to Malcolm
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Speaker 2: X's assassination in nineteen sixty five. When Mohammad died in
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Speaker 2: nineteen seventy five, the Nation of Islam was worth millions
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Speaker 2: of dollars. But here's where the story gets complicated. A
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Speaker 2: court case revealed that millions in funds that many thought
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Speaker 2: belonged to the religious organization were actually part of Mohammad's
17:48
Speaker 2: personal estate. This ruling created massive disputes. Was Mohammad a
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Speaker 2: religious leader whose personal wealth was secondary to the organization's mission,
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Speaker 2: or was he a business man who had built a
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Speaker 2: personal empire using religious followers. The court decided that much
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Speaker 2: of the wealth belonged to Mohammed personally, not to the
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Speaker 2: nation of Islam. The result was a bitter battle over
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Speaker 2: Muhammad's estate that lasted for years. Family members fought over inheritance,
18:18
Speaker 2: the organization struggled with leadership disputes, legal fees mounted. What
18:23
Speaker 2: should have been a smooth transition became a destructive conflict
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Speaker 2: that weakened everything Mohammed had built. By the time all
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Speaker 2: the legal battles were resolved, much of Mohammed's personal estate
18:35
Speaker 2: had been consumed by court costs, legal fees, and family disputes.
18:41
Speaker 2: The man who had preached economic empowerment and built a
18:44
Speaker 2: multi million dollar empire left behind a fractured legacy and
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Speaker 2: depleted finances. Eight Reverend Vernon John's Reverend Vernon Johns was
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Speaker 2: a man ahead of his time, and being ahead of
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Speaker 2: your time is often expensive. Long before Martin Luther King
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Speaker 2: Junior became a household name, Vernon Johns was preaching social
19:07
Speaker 2: justice from the pulpit of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
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Speaker 2: His courage and principles would eventually cost him everything. John's
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Speaker 2: was brilliant. We're talking about a man who could quote
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Speaker 2: entire books from memory and speak multiple languages. He had
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Speaker 2: a PhD and could have chosen a comfortable academic career. Instead,
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Speaker 2: he chose to be a pastor in the Deep South
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Speaker 2: during some of the most dangerous times for black Americans.
19:36
Speaker 2: What made Johns different was his refusal to stay quiet
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Speaker 2: about injustice. While other pastors focused solely on spiritual matters,
19:45
Speaker 2: Johns preached that Christianity demanded action against racism and inequality.
19:51
Speaker 2: He sold watermelons on the steps of his church to
19:54
Speaker 2: make a point about black economic independence. He criticized both
19:58
Speaker 2: white supremacists and black ba people, who he felt were
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Speaker 2: too passive in the face of oppression. John's activism made
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Speaker 2: him enemies on all sides. White segregationists saw him as
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Speaker 2: a troublemaker who was stirring up the black community. Some
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Speaker 2: members of his own congregation thought he was too radical
20:18
Speaker 2: and worried that his actions would bring trouble to the church.
20:21
Speaker 2: Even some civil rights leaders thought his approach was too confrontational.
20:25
Speaker 2: The pressure eventually became too much. In nineteen fifty two,
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Speaker 2: Johns resigned from Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. The man who
20:34
Speaker 2: had been earning a steady salary from one of the
20:36
Speaker 2: most prestigious Black churches in the South found himself without
20:40
Speaker 2: a job and without many prospects. John spent his remaining
20:44
Speaker 2: years moving from place to place, preaching when he could,
20:48
Speaker 2: but never again finding the stability and platform he had
20:51
Speaker 2: at Dexter Avenue. The man who had prepared the way
20:55
Speaker 2: for the Montgomery bus boycott and influenced leaders like Martin
20:59
Speaker 2: Luther King Junior, struggled to make ends meet. When Johns
21:03
Speaker 2: died in nineteen sixty five, he was living in relative poverty.
21:07
Speaker 2: The man who had sacrificed his career and financial security
21:11
Speaker 2: for the cause of justice had very little to show
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Speaker 2: for it in material terms. He had no significant retirement savings,
21:18
Speaker 2: no valuable property, no financial legacy to leave behind. But
21:23
Speaker 2: John's true legacy wasn't measured in dollars. Martin Luther King Junior,
21:28
Speaker 2: who succeeded him at Dexter Avenue, often credited John's with
21:32
Speaker 2: inspiring his own approach to Christian social activism. The civil
21:37
Speaker 2: rights movement that transformed America built on foundations that Vernon
21:41
Speaker 2: Johns had laid. Ninth Reverend George Washington would Be. Reverend
21:47
Speaker 2: George Washington would Be was a man who refused to
21:50
Speaker 2: fit into any neat categories, and that refusal to conform
21:54
Speaker 2: may have cost him everything. Born into slavery, would Be
21:58
Speaker 2: became not just a prere but one of the most
22:01
Speaker 2: prominent black socialist leaders in American history. His combination of
22:06
Speaker 2: Christianity and socialism was radical for his time, and it
22:11
Speaker 2: came at a steep price. Would Be believed that Jesus
22:15
Speaker 2: Christ was the first socialist and that true Christianity demanded
22:19
Speaker 2: economic justice for all people. This wasn't a popular message
22:23
Speaker 2: in early twentieth century America, where capitalism and Christianity were
22:28
Speaker 2: often seen as inseparable, but would Be didn't care about
22:32
Speaker 2: popular opinion. He cared about what he believed was right.
22:37
Speaker 2: As a preacher, would Be was powerful and persuasive, but
22:41
Speaker 2: he didn't limit himself to Sunday sermons. He wrote books,
22:45
Speaker 2: gave political speeches, and ran for political office on the
22:48
Speaker 2: Socialist Party ticket. He was nominated as the Socialist candidate
22:53
Speaker 2: for vice president in nineteen oh eight, making him one
22:57
Speaker 2: of the first Black Americans to be nominated for some
23:00
Speaker 2: such a high office. Woodby's political activism put him at
23:04
Speaker 2: odds with both mainstream American society and much of the
23:07
Speaker 2: black community. White Americans saw him as a dangerous radical
23:12
Speaker 2: who was stirring up trouble. Many Black Americans worried that
23:15
Speaker 2: his socialist views would hurt the cause of racial equality
23:19
Speaker 2: by associating it with unpopular political ideas. The combination of
23:24
Speaker 2: racial prejudice and political opposition made Woodby's life incredibly difficult.
23:29
Speaker 2: Speaking engagements were hard to come by because many venues
23:33
Speaker 2: wouldn't host a black socialist. Book sales were limited because
23:37
Speaker 2: most Americans weren't interested in his message. Political campaigns required
23:42
Speaker 2: money he didn't have. Throughout his life, would be struggled financially.
23:48
Speaker 2: The speaking fees he could earn were limited, his books
23:52
Speaker 2: didn't sell well enough to provide significant income. His political
23:56
Speaker 2: activities cost money rather than generating it. The man who
24:00
Speaker 2: preached economic justice for all found himself living in economic hardship.
24:06
Speaker 2: Historical accounts suggest that would be died penniless despite his
24:10
Speaker 2: decades of activism and his contributions to American political thought,
24:15
Speaker 2: the man who had been nominated for Vice President, who
24:18
Speaker 2: had written influential books, and who had inspired generations of activists,
24:23
Speaker 2: left this world with virtually nothing in material terms. Woodby's
24:28
Speaker 2: story illustrates the cost of being too far ahead of
24:31
Speaker 2: your time. His ideas about combining Christianity with socialism would
24:36
Speaker 2: influence later generations of activists and theologians, but during his
24:41
Speaker 2: own lifetime those ideas made him an outsider who struggled
24:45
Speaker 2: to find financial support for his work. Ten Reverend Henry
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Speaker 2: mc neil Turner. Reverend Henry mc neil Turner was a
24:54
Speaker 2: Titan who helped shape both the African Methodist Episcopal Church
24:58
Speaker 2: and the entire concept of black nationalism in America. This
25:02
Speaker 2: man was a bishop, a politician, a journalist, and a
25:06
Speaker 2: visionary who believed that black Americans might need to return
25:10
Speaker 2: to Africa to find true freedom. His life was full
25:14
Speaker 2: of achievement, but his death raises questions about how financial
25:17
Speaker 2: success relates to historical importance. Turner was born free in
25:23
Speaker 2: South Carolina in eighteen thirty four, which was unusual for
25:26
Speaker 2: black Americans of his era. He was largely self educated,
25:31
Speaker 2: but became one of the most learned men of his generation.
25:34
Speaker 2: He could speak multiple languages, understood theology and law, and
25:39
Speaker 2: was a powerful orator who could command any audience. During
25:44
Speaker 2: the Civil War, Turner served as a chaplain to black
25:47
Speaker 2: Union troops, making him one of the first black chaplains
25:50
Speaker 2: in the U. S. Army. After the war, he was
25:54
Speaker 2: elected to the Georgia State Legislature during Reconstruction, where he
25:58
Speaker 2: fought for the rights of newly freed slaves. When white
26:02
Speaker 2: Democrats regained power and expelled black legislators, Turner spoke out
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Speaker 2: fearlessly about the betrayal of Reconstruction's promises. As a bishop
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Speaker 2: in the Ame Church, Turner was instrumental in expanding the
26:16
Speaker 2: denomination's influence. He helped establish Ame churches throughout the South
26:21
Speaker 2: and even sent missionaries to Africa. He believed that the
26:25
Speaker 2: Ame Church should be a worldwide organization that connected people
26:30
Speaker 2: of African descent wherever they lived. But Turner's most controversial
26:35
Speaker 2: idea was his advocacy for black emigration to Africa. He
26:39
Speaker 2: believed that racism in America was so deeply embedded that
26:43
Speaker 2: black Americans would never achieve true equality Here he argued
26:48
Speaker 2: that black people should return to Africa, establish their own nations,
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Speaker 2: and build their own civilization free from white oppression. These
26:56
Speaker 2: ideas made Turner both famous and notorious. Supporters saw him
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Speaker 2: as a visionary who understood that America would never fully
27:05
Speaker 2: accept black equality. Critics both black and white, saw him
27:09
Speaker 2: as someone who was giving up on the fight for
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Speaker 2: civil rights in America. Turner spent his final years traveling constantly, preaching, organizing,
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Speaker 2: and promoting his vision of black nationalism. He died in
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Speaker 2: nineteen fifteen while on church business in Canada. But here's
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Speaker 2: what we don't know for certain. What was his exact
27:30
Speaker 2: financial situation when he died. The historical records about Turner's
27:35
Speaker 2: personal wealth at the time of his death are incomplete.
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Speaker 2: He was a bishop in a major denomination, which should
27:41
Speaker 2: have provided financial security. He was a published author and
27:45
Speaker 2: popular speaker, which should have generated income, but he also
27:49
Speaker 2: spent enormous amounts of time and energy on causes that
27:52
Speaker 2: didn't pay well, if at all. Turner's focus was always
27:57
Speaker 2: on building institutions and advancing causes rather than accumulating personal wealth.
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Speaker 2: He invested his time and resources in the A. M. E.
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Speaker 2: Church in political activism and in promoting African emigration. These
28:11
Speaker 2: were worthy causes, but they weren't necessarily profitable ones. What
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Speaker 2: we do know is that Turner's influence far exceeded whatever
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Speaker 2: wealth he may have accumulated. His ideas about black nationalism
28:24
Speaker 2: influenced later leaders like Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X. His
28:29
Speaker 2: work in expanding the A m. E. Church created institutions
28:32
Speaker 2: that still serve communities to day. If you thought this
28:35
Speaker 2: list was crazy, hit that subscribe button right now, because
28:39
Speaker 2: we've got even bigger stories coming