William Levington
| William Levington | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1793 New York City, United States |
| Died | May 1836 (aged 42–43) Baltimore |
| Occupation | Clergyman |
William Levington (1793 – May 15, 1836) was an African-American clergyman and teacher. The third African American ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church of the United States, he established the first African-American congregation south of the Mason–Dixon line, and worked to educate African American youth.
Born in New York City, by the time he was seven, Levington was living in Philadelphia and working in the bookstore of Sheldon Potter, along with Alonzo Potter, Sheldon's brother who later became Bishop of Pennsylvania (in 1845). In 1818, Alonzo Potter graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York and began a teaching career there the following year. Levington wanted to study for the ministry and studied under Potter's tutelage until 1822, when Levington returned to Philadelphia to prepare for ordination under the guidance of Rev. Jackson Kemper, assistant to bishop William White. During at least his last years with Alonzo Potter, Levington lived and taught at a school for African American children in Albany. However, New York's Bishop John Henry Hobart refused to ordain him, despite having ordained Rev. Peter Williams, Jr., likewise an African American, in 1819. Williams had become an abolitionist, and Levington likewise delivered addresses against slavery, including through the Ladies Philanthropic Benezet society, though that did not prevent Albany's mayor and others from providing glowing references upon his departure.
Bishop William White ordained Levington as a deacon at the Church of St. Thomas on March 14, 1824, three decades after ordaining Rev. Absalom Jones at the same church, and six years after Jones' death. However, Levington was not to remain with that congregation. Instead, Kemper wrote a letter of recommendation praising his conduct and piety, which led to an interview with Bishop James Kemp in Baltimore. On June 23, 1824, the new missionary established the St. James First African Protestant Episcopal Church and school in an upstairs room of a building at Marion and Park Avenues in Baltimore. At the time, Maryland law prohibited African American children from attending public schools, though they paid taxes.
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