“The Great Colored Evangelist”: A Biography of Reverend William H. Robinson

Abstract

This paper examines the life of Reverend William H. Robinson. Robinson was born a slave in 1848 in North Carolina, and was freed during the Civil War. Robinson then became educated and worked in different jobs across the country. In 1877 he converted to Methodism and became a minister and speaker. These experiences are written about in his slave narrative From Log Cabin to the Pulpit, or, Fifteen Years in Slavery. His lecture and preaching career ultimately led him to Eau Claire, Wisconsin where he spent the end of his life from 1910 to 1923. This paper covers his life in bondage and afterwards, most specifically his life in Eau Claire.