An African American Baptist preacher, educator, author, and tireless advocate for African American advancement and uplift, Charles Octavius Boothe was one of the founders of Dexter Avenue-King Memorial Baptist Church (1877), Selma University (1878), and the Colored Baptist Missionary Convention for the State of Alabama in the early 1870s.  The latter was the first statewide African American Baptist denominational organization. He also served as the first minister of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and a two year term as president of Selma University (1901-1902). Born into slavery in Mobile County, Alabama, on June 13, 1845, Boothe proudly proclaimed that his maternal great-grandmother and his paternal grandfather were born in Africa. Possibly taught to read by his grandfather in addition to his own personal efforts to learn, he read the bible as a child and grew up in the African American Baptist faith. Boothe was baptized in 1866 and ordained a minister in 1868 at the age of 23. A prolific and indefatigable writer, Boothe served as editor of a religious newspaper, the Baptist Pioneer, and wrote and published newspaper articles and reports on missionary activities. He wrote two significant works: The Cyclopedia of the Colored Baptists of Alabama, which documented the … Continue reading Charles Octavius Boothe (1845-1924)