This week in Christian history: Queen Elizabeth I excommunicated, first Methodist church chartered
Amanda Smith dies – Feb. 24, 1915
This week marks the anniversary of when Amanda Smith, an African American preacher and missionary who launched an orphanage in Illinois, died at the age of 78.
A native of Maryland who was born into slavery, Smith experienced a conversion experience in 1868 as an adult, which led her to become a traveling preacher and evangelist.
In addition to preaching at various meetings in the United States, Smith traveled to England and India to evangelize, then served as a missionary in West Africa for most of the 1880s.
“In 1893 Smith published An Autobiography. The proceeds from the book, together with her savings, the income from a small newspaper she published, and gifts from others, enabled her to open a home for African-American orphans in Harvey, Ill., in 1899,” explained Britannica.
“In 1912, when she retired to Florida, the orphanage was taken over by the state of Illinois and chartered as the Amanda Smith Industrial School for Girls. It was destroyed by fire in 1918.”
