William Levington, who founded the St. James Church and School for African Americans in Baltimore, Maryland in 1824.

On June 22, 1834, Maryland's bishop Stone ordained him an Episcopal deacon at St. Stephen's Church in Cecil County.

[2] Douglass then moved to Philadelphia to serve at the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas where Pennsylvania Bishop Henry Onderdonk ordained him as a priest in 1836.

He also believed deeply in the spread of peace above all else, despite the religious and racial unrest which beset Philadelphia in the 1830s and continued with the Know Nothing Movement in the 1840s and 1850s.

[7] His passion for education influenced his eldest daughters Sarah, Elizabeth, Mary, Caroline to acquire trades.