Adam Clayton Powell Sr.

Adam Clayton Powell (May 5, 1865[1][2] – June 12, 1953) was an American pastor who developed the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York as the largest Protestant congregation in the country, with 10,000 members.

He was a founder of the National Urban League, active in the NAACP and several fraternal organizations, and served as trustee of several historically black colleges and schools.

Adam Clayton Powell was born near Martin's Mill on Maggodee Creek,[3] in Franklin County, Virginia.

[11] Pezzoni noted Sally was a free woman of color, as were her mother and grandmother, proved by the 1860 census, which documented the three generations of the Dunning family.

"[6] Sally's mother Mildred Dunning was listed as Malinda Dunnon in 1880, apparently changing her name, too, for their new lives in West Virginia.

Later in life he easily passed as white for convenience when traveling by train in the South; he used it to gain better accommodations in the segregated railroad cars.

Before 1920, Blanche married Clarence D. King, who had migrated to New York from Virginia, and the young couple lived with her parents for a time in the city.

[1][25] From 1908 until 1936, Powell served as pastor of the century-old Abyssinian Baptist Church, whose congregation had moved north and was located in Harlem, New York.

Under his leadership, in 1920 the congregation acquired a large lot and built a substantial church and community center at a cost of $334,000.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian and pastor, attended Abyssinian Baptist for six months while studying in New York at Union Theological Seminary before World War II.

Adam Clayton Powell Sr. has been credited with teaching Bonhoeffer about love of enemies, resisting systems of injustice, Christ's presence with the poor, and the doctrine of "cheap grace".

He was a member of the YMCA, Republican Party, and fraternal organizations, including the Masons, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias.