Healy, James Augustine - Timeline Biography
Time Period
1830 - 1900
Description
James Augustine Healy was born on a Georgia plantation to Michael Morris Healy, an Irish-born slave owner, and Mary Eliza Clark, a mixed-race slave. This made James a slave by law, but for the rest of his life he identified with and was accepted as a white Irish-American. He evaded Georgia’s slave laws by studying at Quaker schools in Long Island and New Jersey. He was able to join a seminary in Montreal, Canada in 1849 by not supplying a copy of his parents’ marriage certificate.
Healy went on to have a very successful career as a religious leader. He became an ordained priest on June 10, 1854 in the Notre Dame Cathedral, making him the first black priest of African descent. He became a bishop of Portland, Maine in 1875, another first for someone of African descent. Over his career, he established 60 parishes, 18 schools, and several welfare programs. During this time, he rarely discussed his ancestry.
Healy went on to have a very successful career as a religious leader. He became an ordained priest on June 10, 1854 in the Notre Dame Cathedral, making him the first black priest of African descent. He became a bishop of Portland, Maine in 1875, another first for someone of African descent. Over his career, he established 60 parishes, 18 schools, and several welfare programs. During this time, he rarely discussed his ancestry.
Interactive Timeline(s)
Browse Related Timeline Entries
Religious Groups
Catholicism (Western Liturgical Family): Other ARDA LinksCatholicism (Western Liturgical Family): Religious Family Tree
Photographs
Rev. James Augustine Healy portrait- Hathi Trust- from History of the Catholic Church in the United States, vol 2 by Richard H. Clarke
James A Healy portrait- Internet Archive- from The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the United States by John Gilmary Shea
James A Healy portrait- Hathi Trust- from Representative Men of Maine by Henry Chase
Book/Journal Source(s)
Murphy, Larry, J. Gordon Melton, and Gary Ward, 1993. Encyclopedia of African American Religions New York: Garland.Reid, Daniel, Robert Linder, Bruce Shelley, and Harry Stout, 1990. Dictionary of Christianity in America Downers Grove, IL.
Web Page Contributor
Benjamin T. GurrentzAffliated with: Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D. in Sociology
