 (1848-1918).
Monroe Franklin Jamison, bishop of the Colored Methodist
Episcopal Church (later the Christian Methodist Episcopal
Church), son of George and Lethia Shorter, was born into
slavery near Rome, Georgia, on November 27, 1848. At age
twelve he was sold to Robert Jamison of Talladega,
Alabama. By 1870 he had begun his career as a Methodist
minister in Alabama. Monroe Jamison moved to Texas in
1872, settling in Marshall. He and several other black
Methodist preachers who had moved to Texas from Alabama
soon divided the area around Marshall into Colored
Methodist Episcopal circuits known as Black Jack Circuit,
Hilliard Circuit, Center Circuit, and Antioch Circuit.
Jamison, the best known of this group of circuit-riding
ministers, was noted for his ability to preach in the
"Alabama style," an old-fashioned jubilant
style of preaching that appealed to the poor. A staunch
defender of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, he
was nicknamed Fighting Joe for his readiness to debate
doctrine with clergy from other churches. Jamison joined
the East Texas Conference of the Colored Methodist
Episcopal Church under Bishop Isaac Lane in 1873 and was
assigned to the Marshall and Longview stations. He
married Minerva A. Flinnoy on January 14 of the following
year. In February 1875 he was appointed to serve in
Dallas. That year under his pastorate the first Colored
Methodist Episcopal church was built in that city. At the
1876 Colored Methodist Episcopal annual conference in
Dallas, Jamison was promoted to presiding elder. In 1908
Jamison earned a Doctor of Divinity degree from Texas
College. Later he established other churches throughout
the North Texas area. Jamison also edited the Christian
Index, the official organ of the Colored Methodist
Episcopal Church, and the Christian Advocate,
a church paper published by the East Texas Conference. He
was appointed bishop of the Colored Methodist Episcopal
Church in 1910 and served until his death eight years
later. In 1912 Jamison published an account of his life's
work, entitled The Autobiography and Work of Bishop M.
F. Jamison ("Uncle Joe"). He died at
Leigh (Harrison County), Texas, on May 19, 1918, and was
buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. |