John Bryan Small

Mary J. Blair

(m. 1873)

Signature

John Bryan Small (March 14, 1845 – January 15, 1905) was a Barbadian-American bishop in the AME Zion Church.

Biography

John Bryan Small was born in Saint Joseph, Barbados on March 14, 1845.^[1] He was educated at St. John Lodge, and graduated from Codrington College with A.B., S.T.B., and A.M. degrees.^[1] He joined the British Army as a clerk and was stationed in the Gold Coast for three years, resigning due to British aggression towards the Asante.

In 1871 he travelled to the United States, becoming a preacher with the AME Zion Church.^[1] He married Mary J. Blair on October 23, 1873.^[1]

In 1896 he was elected AME Zion bishop to Africa, where he concentrated his work in the Gold Coast, training indigenous African church leaders including James E. K. Aggrey by sending them to Livingstone College.

Small returned to the US in 1904. He died at the Episcopal residence in York, Pennsylvania on January 15, 1905.^[2] His deathbed words were "Don't let my African work fail."^[3]

Publications

Practical and Exegetical Pulpiteer
The Human Heart Illustrated
Code on Discipline of the A.M.E. Zion Church
Predestination, Its Scriptural Import^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Johnson, Rossiter; Brown, John Howard, eds. (1904). The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. Vol. IX. Boston: The Biographical Society. Retrieved May 28, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
^ "Death of Bishop J. B. Small". Harrisburg Telegraph. January 16, 1905. p. 5. Retrieved May 28, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Jacobs, Sylvia M. "African Missions and the African-American Christian Churches". African-American Experience in World Mission. p. 35.

U.S. Black church denominations and leaders

General themes

Religion in Black America
Historically African-American Christian denominations
Clergy

Methodist

African Methodist Episcopal Church	John Adams Sr. Richard Allen Sarah Allen Benjamin W. Arnett George Lincoln Blackwell Morris Brown Jamal Harrison Bryant John Richard Bryant Richard H. Cain Archibald Carey Jr. Daniel Coker James H. Cone James Levert Davis Jordan Winston Early Orishatukeh Faduma Floyd Flake Carolyn Tyler Guidry Sarah E. Gorham William H. Heard Reginald Jackson Henrietta Phelps Jeffries Absalom Jones Ben Kinchlow Vashti Murphy McKenzie Biddy Mason Lena Doolin Mason Robert Meacham Lyman S. Parks Daniel Payne Charles H. Pearce Clementa C. Pinckney William Paul Quinn Reverdy Cassius Ransom Richard Henry Singleton Charles Spencer Smith Theophilus Gould Steward Henry McNeal Turner William Tecumseh Vernon D. Ormonde Walker Lewis Woodson
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church	William H. Day Julia A. J. Foote James Walker Hood Thomas James Singleton T. Jones John Kinard Jermain Wesley Loguen John E. Price William Henry Singleton John Bryan Small Mary J. Small Jeffery Tribble James Varick Alexander Walters
A.U.M.P. Church	Peter Spencer
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church	William Yancy Bell William H. Miles

Baptist

Dexter Avenue Baptist Church	Vernon Johns Martin Luther King Jr.
First African Baptist Church (Richmond, Virginia)	Lucy Goode Brooks
First African Baptist Church (Savannah, Georgia)	David George
Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship	Paul S. Morton
Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention	Clinton Caldwell Boone Lott Cary
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.	Stewart Cleveland Cureton Joseph H. Jackson T. J. Jemison Willie James Jennings Henry Lyons Benjamin Mays W. J. Simmons
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.	R. H. Boyd
National Missionary Baptist Convention of America	S. M. Lockridge
Progressive National Baptist Convention	Ralph Abernathy William Augustus Jones Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. Gardner C. Taylor
United American Free Will Baptist Church	Benjamin Randall