Morris Brown

The Right Reverend Morris Brown
Church	African Methodist Episcopal Church
Predecessor	Richard Allen
Successor	Daniel Payne
Personal details
Born	(1770-01-08)January 8, 1770 Charleston, South Carolina
Died	May 9, 1849(1849-05-09) (aged 79) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Denomination	African Methodist Episcopal Church
Occupation	2nd bishop of African Methodist Episcopal Church and shoemaker

Morris Brown (January 8, 1770 – May 9, 1849) was one of the founders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and its second presiding bishop. He founded Emanuel AME Church in his native Charleston, South Carolina. It was implicated in the slave uprising planned by Denmark Vesey, also of this church, and after that was suppressed, Brown was imprisoned for nearly a year. He was never convicted of a crime.

After his release, he took his family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he worked closely with Bishop Richard Allen on expanding the church. After Allen's death, Brown was selected as the second bishop of the AME denomination. He planted new congregations and established conferences of AME churches in the American Midwest and Ontario, Canada. He also mentored rising AME leaders such as the Rev. Daniel Payne, and encouraged formal education for new preachers and pastors.^[1]