AMANDA BERRY SMITH (1837-1915)

This video is brought to you by, Fiverr: https://go.fiverr.com/visit/?bta=500952&brand=fiverrhybrid

Fiverr Learn: https://go.fiverr.com/visit/?bta=500952&brand=fiverrlearn

Fiverr Business: https://go.fiverr.com/visit/?bta=500952&brand=fb

Become a Fiverr Affiliate: https://go.fiverr.com/visit/?bta=500952&brand=fiverraffiliates

Fiverr Workspace: https://go.fiverr.com/visit/?bta=500952&brand=workspace

Welcome to "Forgotten Black History". On this channel we talk about special places, events and people in Black History, This page serves as an index to the prominent figures featured throughout the Black History society. Black history is the story of African Americans in the United States and elsewhere. We want to celebrate, remind, and pay respect to not only African Americans but Black people of all races and backgrounds. We hope you subscribe to join the family, so we can grow a small community to help people of all races know just how special black people actually are in the world. Thank you for taking the time out to visit our channel. We hope you subscribe, if you hadn't already. We wish you peace and love, and for you to stay safe out there.

#BlackHistory #ForgottenBlackHistory #BlackPeople

Check out our Rumble page for exclusive videos: https://rumble.com/c/c-1788327

Amanda Berry Smith was a Methodist holiness evangelist, missionary to Africa and founder of an orphanage for African American children. Amanda was born into slavery on January 23, 1837 in Long Green, Maryland to parents Samuel Berry and Miriam Matthews Berry, while they were held on adjacent farms. Eventually her father worked for wages at night to buy freedom for himself and his family. Amanda’s attempts to gain a formal education always failed because a school was not available, or it was too difficult for an African American child to get a proper education in a white school.

When she was thirteen, Amanda left home to work as a live-in domestic and began attending a Methodist church. In 1854, she married Calvin Devine and they had a daughter, Mazie, Amanda’s only child to live to adulthood. Calvin enlisted in the Union Army and never returned home. In 1855, while Amanda was gravely ill, she dreamed that she was preaching at a camp meeting. She recovered from her illness and was converted not too long after that experience.

In 1865, Amanda Berry married James Smith with the hope of becoming a minister’s wife and pursuing church work through that venue. Unfortunately, James never became a minister. Their matrimonial conflicts were also compounded by the early deaths of several of their children. When James passed away in 1869, he and Amanda were living apart. Amanda began to preach and sing at holiness camp meetings in 1870, eventually becoming well-known for both of these talents.

In 1878, Amanda Berry Smith traveled overseas and preached in Great Britain, India, and for eight years in Liberia. Her time in Africa was particularly difficult, especially on her health. Upon her return to the states, she pursued her long-time dream of educating African American children by founding the Amanda Smith Orphanage and Industrial Home for Abandoned and Destitute Colored Children in Harvey, Illinois in 1899. Despite her relentless fundraising efforts, she never could support the school sufficiently. At the age of seventy-five, she left the school and moved to a home in Sebring, Florida, where she passed away on February 24, 1915.