Evangelist and Organizer { 1831–1833 }

This chapter focuses on William Apess's life as evangelist and organizer during the years 1831–1833. In the early summer of 1830, Apess was one of three preachers at a fundraiser for the Associated Methodist Church in New York City. Apess's sermon was on the prophesied accelerating growth of the Methodist Episcopal Church through temporal history. For the next several years, Apess's ministry unfolded beyond New York City proper, for he returned as a missionary among the Pequot Indians in Connecticut. From this base, he traveled throughout southern New England, preaching and soliciting funds for the tribe's spiritual welfare. The rest of this chapter discusses Apess's travel to Boston, where African Americans such as David Walker were fighting for abolitionism, and to southeastern Massachusetts, where he helped the Mashpee Indians in their struggle for self-government.