Albert Cleage
Reverend Albert Cleage 1911-2000
Albert Cleage was born in 1911 in Indianapolis and grew up in Detroit. His father was a physician in Detroit. In 1942 he received his BA from Wayne State University, and in 1943 he received his Bachelor of Divinity from Oberlin Graduate School of Theology. He married Doris Graham in 1943 and he was ordained in the Congregational Church during the same year.
He pastored an integrated church in San Francisco and returned to Detroit in 1951. Upon returning, he served at St. Marks United Presbyterian mission. However, some of the white leaders of the church disagreed with the way Cleage was leading his Black congregation. In 1953, Cleage and group of followers left the church and formed the Central Congregation Church. Their mission was to minister to the less fortunate and they offered many programs for the poor.
During the 1960's, Cleage became more active in other areas of the community. He became involved with black political leadership and education. In 1967, he began the Black Christian National Movement in 1967. This movement was encouraging black churches to reinterpret Jesus' teachings to suit the social, economic, and political needs of black people. In March of 1967, Cleage installed a painting of a black Madonna holding the baby Jesus in his church.
Cleage's book "The Black Messiah", which depicted Jesus as a black revoluitionary leader, was published in 1968. His second book was published in 1972; "Black Christian Nationalism". This book introduced the Black Christian Nationalist Movement as its own denomination. The church was later renamed Pan African Orthodox Christian Church. Cleage then changed his name to Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman, meaning "liberator, holy man, savior of the nation" in Swahili.