It was during the years that Tanner pastored Bethel A.M.E., from 1868 to 1884, that he turned his attention to the press, editing the Christian Recorder. After 1884, Tanner launched the A.M.E. Church Review, a quarterly that rapidly became the leading black magazine of high literary quality. Tanner watched with astonishment the gradual racial repression that led to the establishment of Jim Crow legislation in the South. He felt that racial solidarity offered the best defense for racial injustice, and he encouraged blacks to unite in the support of black businesses and the black press. Tanner believed in racial solidarity through collective action.
Tanner was consecrated a bishop in 1888 and remained active in that capacity for the next twenty years before he retired from his duties in 1908. Tanner was an electrifying preacher as well as a prolific writer. His most widely circulated book was a history of African Methodism. He authored a total of seven books throughout his long career. In one of his publications he wrote:
“…the Founders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church…dared to organize a Church of men, men to think for themselves, men to talk for themselves, men to act for themselves.”
Tanner married Sarah Miller in 1858 while he was a student at the Western Theological Seminary. The couple had seven children, the best know of whom was their son, Henry Ossawa Tanner, the famous black painter. A daughter, Hallie, became the first black female to practice medicine in the state of Alabama. Benjamin Tanner was awarded a LL.D from Wilberforce University, where in 1901 he briefly served as Dean of the Payne Theological Seminary. Bishop Tucker died at the age of 88 in 1923.
Go To Page: 1 2
