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 PROPHET WILLIAM S. CROWDY William S. Crowdy was born a slave in Maryland in the year 1847. A year later (1848 i.e.), notable English explorers into Africa reported discovering "African Jews!" William S. Crowdy was emancipated at age 18. He served in the Union army during the Civil War. After the war, he traveled west to Okalahoma, where he bought a farm. Upon learning to read and write, his human experience, along with world events and his ability to read the Bible, led him to believe that the slaves of America were actually the true Children of Israel. Eventually he married and raised a family in Kansas City, Missouri. But, over the years his reasoning about the Bible and his people haunted him. Finally, at age 46, he began telling others by preaching on the streets of Kansas City. Three years later, he was living and preaching in Chicago. There, he was ordained a "Bishop" by a few of the ministers he had commissioned to teach. In the year 1896, his organization became incorporated as "The Church of God and the Saints of Christ." Although founded during the times of "Jim Crow," his church was integrated, and most of the incorporating members were White. |