Today in Black History: February 13th
1818 – Absalom Jones Passes Away
Absalom Jones was born into slavery in 1746 in Sussex, Delaware. He taught himself to read and was later taken to Philadelphia, where he worked as a store clerk while attending an all-Black school at night. In 1770, he married a fellow slave and eventually purchased both her freedom and his own. Jones became a lay preacher at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church, but after facing racial segregation, he and Richard Allen left to form the Free African Society in 1787, which provided aid to those in need and later helped establish The African Church in 1791.
The African Church joined the Episcopal Diocese in 1794, becoming St. Thomas African Episcopal Church, the first Black Episcopal parish in the U.S. Jones was ordained as the first African American Episcopal priest in 1804. Despite a split with Allen, they continued working together, co-founding the African Masonic Lodge and petitioning for the abolition of slavery. Jones opposed the American Colonization Society and remained a leader in the Black community until his death in Philadelphia on February 13, 1818.
1882 – Henry Highland Garnet Passes Away
Born into slavery near New Market, Maryland, on December 23, 1815, Henry Highland Garnet escaped slavery in 1824 and attended the African Free School. Overcoming hardships, he joined the First Colored Presbyterian Church and became a leading abolitionist.
In 1843, he gained national attention urging enslaved people to rebel. He later pastored Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church and, in 1865, became the first African American to preach in the U.S. Capitol. After leading Avery College, he supported black migration to Liberia. Appointed U.S. minister to Liberia in 1881, he died two months after arriving on February 13, 1882.
1908 – Malvin Russell Goode Is Born
Malvin Russell Goode, born on February 13, 1908, in White Plains, Virginia, became the first African American news correspondent for a major TV network. Raised in Homestead, Pennsylvania, he worked at U.S. Steel while earning his degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1931. After roles as a probation officer and housing manager, he entered journalism in 1948 with the Pittsburgh Courier and later became a broadcaster.
In 1962, ABC News hired him as its first black correspondent, covering the UN. He gained recognition reporting the Cuban Missile Crisis and major civil rights events. Goode trained African journalists, earned numerous awards, and remained active in broadcasting until the 1980s. Goode passed away on September 12, 1995, at 87 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
