Religious Leader. Minister, author, and a Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E. church). Born to slave parents in Wilkes County, Georgia in 1840, he was a sickly child and he took advantage of the time on his sickbed secretly teaching himself to read. In 1849 he accepted Christ and became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. After the Civil War, Gaines was licensed to preach in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. At his brother William's urging, he left the denomination and united with the A.M.E. Church. In 1867, he was ordained an elder in the A.M.E. Church, and spent the next twenty years serving various pastorates in Georgia. Including as second pastor of Atlanta's Big Bethel A.M.E. Church. It was here in the basement of the church that Morris Brown College was established. In 1885, he was elected a Bishop in the A.M. E. Church. In 1891 he became Vice President of the newly founded Payne Theological Seminary.
Religious Leader. Minister, author, and a Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E. church). Born to slave parents in Wilkes County, Georgia in 1840, he was a sickly child and he took advantage of the time on his sickbed secretly teaching himself to read. In 1849 he accepted Christ and became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. After the Civil War, Gaines was licensed to preach in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. At his brother William's urging, he left the denomination and united with the A.M.E. Church. In 1867, he was ordained an elder in the A.M.E. Church, and spent the next twenty years serving various pastorates in Georgia. Including as second pastor of Atlanta's Big Bethel A.M.E. Church. It was here in the basement of the church that Morris Brown College was established. In 1885, he was elected a Bishop in the A.M. E. Church. In 1891 he became Vice President of the newly founded Payne Theological Seminary.
Bio by: Curtis Jackson
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