KEY STATISTICS REGARDING AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES ¾ 86 percent of black fourth graders cannot read at grade level. ¾ On average, African American and Hispanic 12th grade students read at approximately the same level as white eighth graders. ¾ The 12th grade reading scores of African American males were significantly lower than those for men and women across every other racial and ethnic group. ¾ Although they represent only 17.1 percent of public school students, in 2006 African American students accounted for 37.4 percent of total suspensions and 37.9 percent of total expulsions nationwide ¾ Only 41 percent of African American males graduate from high school in the United States. ¾ In 1995, 16 percent of African American males in their 20s who did not go to college were in jail; a decade later, it’s grown to 21 percent. ¾ The arrest rate among African American youth (ages 10-17) was nearly twice the rate of their white peers. ¾ Nationwide, young black offenders are more than twice as likely to be transferred to adult court than their white counterparts. ¾ Nearly 60 percent of young offenders serving time in adult state prisons are African American, although African Americans comprise only 15 percent of the youth population. ¾ Nationwide, 60 percent of the 2,380 offenders serving life without parole for crimes they were convicted of committing as children are African American. ¾ According to the Centers for Disease Control, homicide is the leading cause of death among African American males aged 15-34 years. ¾ According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics released in 2008, the homicide rate among Black males ages 10 to 24 is more than double that of Hispanic and White males in the same age group. ¾ North Carolina has spent more money on prisons than on support of the 11 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the state. 1 AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. The AMEC grew out of the Free African Society (FAS) which Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and others established in Philadelphia in 1787. When officials at St. George’s MEC pulled blacks off their knees while praying, FAS members discovered just how far American Methodists would go to enforce racial discrimination against African Americans. Hence, these members of St. George’s made plans to transform their mutual aid society into an African congregation. Although most wanted to affiliate with the Protestant Episcopal Church, Allen led a small group who resolved to remain Methodists. In 1794 Bethel AME was dedicated with Allen as pastor. To establish Bethel’s independence from interfering white Methodists, Allen, a former Delaware slave, successfully sued in the Pennsylvania courts in 1807 and 1815 for the right of his congregation to exist as an independent institution. Because black Methodists in other middle Atlantic communities encountered racism and desired religious autonomy, Allen called them to meet in Philadelphia to form a new Wesleyan denomination, the AME. The Church maintains 11 college and universities: Allen University, South Carolina; Campbell College, Mississippi; Daniel Payne College, Alabama; Edward Waters College, Florida; Kittrell College, North Carolina; Morris Brown College, Georgia; Paul Quinn College, Texas; Payne Theological Seminary, Ohio; Shorter College, Georgia; Turner Theological Seminary, Georgia; and Wilberforce University, Ohio. The African Methodist Episcopal Church has more than 2.5 million members. The headquarters for the AME Church is located in Philadelphia, PA. 2 AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION CHURCH Officially born October 1796, the new Black denomination was chartered in 1801 and firmly established in 1820 when the leaders voted themselves out of the White Methodist Episcopal Church. The next year, church founders agreed to call the church the African Methodist Episcopal Church in America. But to distinguish this New York- based group from the Philadelphia Black Methodist movement which emerged about the same time, the word "Zion" was added to the title during the church's general conference in 1848. With its identity problems resolved, the AME Zion Church made the salvation of the whole person--mind, body and spirit--its top priority. At the crux of its ministry lay racial justice, peace and harmony, thus earning it the title, the Freedom Church. As the ministry expanded, so did the denomination's emphasis on education. "In order to succeed in American society as productive citizens, we [the newly freed slaves] need to become an educated citizenry," an early AME Zion member once said. In keeping with that goal, the Church maintains four colleges and universities today, which are Livingstone College in Salisbury, N.C., Clinton Junior College in Rock Hill, S.C., and Lomax-Hannon Junior College in Greenville, Alabama, and A.M.E. Zion University in Monrovia, Liberia. Additionally it maintains two theological seminaries, Hood Theological Seminary in Salisbury, NC and Hood Speaks Theological Seminary in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church has more than1.5 million members and has it’s headquarters in Charlotte, NC. 3 CHRISTIAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, or the CME Church as it is commonly called, came into existence as a result of the movement from slavery to freedom. During the years following the birth of Methodism, the denomination grew rapidly. The Methodist Episcopal Church South was an outgrowth of Wesley's Methodism. Some Blacks, converted to Christianity by slave masters, accepted the Methodist doctrine as it was. However, with the passage of time, the emancipation of Blacks from slavery created the desire by Blacks to have and control their own church. This desire led formerly enslaved persons who had been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, to start their own independent religious organization. Forty-one men who exemplified leadership qualities gathered together in Jackson, Tennessee on December 16, 1870. With the advice and assistance of the white brethren of the M.E. Church South, the Black religious leaders organized the colored branch of Methodism. On Tuesday, December 20, they adopted the Methodist South's Book of Discipline and on Wednesday, December 21, they elected two of their own preachers - William H. Miles of Kentucky and Richard H. Vanderhorst of Georgia - as their bishops. The church maintains a publishing house in Memphis, TN, as well as Lane College in Jackson, TN; Texas College in Tyler, TX; Paine College in Augusta, GA; Phillips School of Theology in Atlanta, GA; and Miles College in Fairfield, AL. The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church has more than 800,000 members. The CME offices are in Memphis, TN. 4 Senior Bishop John R. Bryant - African Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop John Richard Bryant is the son of the late Bishop Harrison James and Edith Holland Bryant. He was elected and consecrated the 106th Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church at the 1988 General Conference in Fort Worth, TX. He earned his B.A. in 1965 at Morgan State University, his Masters in Theology in 1970 at the Boston University School of Theology, and his Doctorate in Ministries at the Colgate Rochester Divinity School in 1975. Bryant also holds an Honorary Doctorates from Paul Quinn College, Wilberforce University, Payne Theological Seminary and Virginia Seminary. He received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from both Boston University School of Theology and Morgan State University. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of his high school, Baltimore City College. Bishop Bryant is married to the Rev. Dr. Cecelia Williams Bryant and is the father of Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant, pastor and founder of the Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore, MD, and Dr. Thema Simone Bryant Davis. 5 Senior Bishop William H. Graves Christian Methodist Episcopal Church William H. Graves, the 42nd Bishop of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, is the eighth child born to Johnnie and Leatha Graves. He was born June 19, 1936 in Brownsville, TN. At an early age he migrated with his family to Detroit where he spent the majority of his childhood and youth. His public school education began in Tennessee and was completed in Michigan. Upon receiving the BA degree from Lane College, he matriculated at Phillips School of Theology of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, GA. He pursued his Doctor of Ministry degree from the Claremont School of Theology. After being licensed to preach, Bishop Graves served as the assistant pastor of his home church, the St. John's CME Church of Detroit, under the pastorate of Walter H. Amos, (who later became the 32nd Bishop of the church). Prior of his election, he served pastorates in Georgia, Indiana, and Wisconsin. He rose to prominence in the church during an outstanding pastorate of the Phillips Temple CME Church of Los Angeles, CA, where he led that historic congregation to a renovation/restoration project of its worship facility. While there, he earned a reputation as an unusual leader in stewardship motivation of local congregations. The role of William H. Graves as a representative of Christian Methodism began early in his ministry. He was elected President of the National Youth Conference, and represented the denomination in the World Council of Churches in India; and in the World Methodist Conference on several occasions London, England; Dublin, Ireland; and Honolulu, Hawaii. For two General Conferences he served as the Chair of the Committee on Episcopacy of the CME Church. Throughout his ministry he has been actively involved in the social and political issues of the community. Bishop Graves presides over the First Episcopal District, with headquarters and residence in Memphis, TN. At the 2006 General Conference, held in Memphis, TN, Bishop Graves was elevated to the position of Senior Bishop and CEO of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishop Graves is the Chair of the Department of Finance of the CME Church.