John Hurst Adams (Bishop) was a Civil Rights activist and a Bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishop Adams was also President of Paul Quinn College (Waco, Texas). He began his Civil Rights activism in Waco, after being targeted by the Ku Klux Klan. He participated in marches, protest and sit-ins with Paul Quinn’s students. In 1962, Bishop Adams was reassigned to Seattle, Washington’s First African Methodist Episcopal Church. There, he was chairman of the Central Area Civil Rights Committee, a group dedicated to Civil Rights issues in Seattle. He also founded the first government agency named Central Area Motivation Program, which was created as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. From 1968 through 1980 he was transferred to a few more churches in various cities. In 1980, while serving as Bishop at the Second Episcopal District in Washington, D.C. he founded the Congress of National Black Churches in 1982. Bishop Adams continued his activism through protest and in organizing voter registration drives across America. His advocacy included working with the NAACP and Christian groups to organize protest against the Confederate flag.
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Church Affiliation:Bethel A.M.E. Church; First African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church; Grant A.M.E. Church
Role in the Movement:John Hurst Adams (Bishop) was a Civil Rights activist and Bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Birth Place:Columbia, SC
Born Date:November 27, 1927
Deceased Date:January 10, 2018
Place Lived as Adult:Lynn, MA; Columbia, SC; Seattle, WA; Los Angeles, CA; Washington, DC
Church Location:Lynn, MA; Columbia, SC; Seattle, WA; Los Angeles, CA; Washington, DC