Lott Cary was the first African American missionary, first on America soil and later on African soil in Liberia.
Who was he? He was a most unusual man who made the most of his opportunities. He began as a slave on a plantation in Virginia, learned to read, bought his own freedom and that of his two children, financed his own voyage to Liberia in the early 1800s, took the gospel of Jesus Christ to that land, and served his countrymen in any way he could. Sometimes he was a layman physician, a reluctant governor, but most of all—a missionary to win others to faith in the gospel.
How did he finance all the above? His master trusted him to work in a Richmond, VA, tobacco warehouse. There he collected scraps of tobacco which he picked up and later sold and saved the money little by little until he had sufficient funds. He found slaveholders willing to sell his and others’ freedom.
Here are Wikipedia’s words:
Lott Cary, 1780 – November 10, 1828, was an African-American Baptist minister and lay physician who was a missionary leader in the founding of the colony of Liberia on the west coast of Africa in the 1820s. He founded the first Baptist church there in 1822, now known as Providence Baptist Church of Monrovia. He served as the colony's acting governor from August 1828 to his death in November of that year. (Accessed 6/28/2020)
One of his biographers, Perry Thomas, has posted on Amazon books the following description of his life:
Born and raised in slavery, Lott Cary endured great humiliation before rising to the heights of fame and glory. After years of hard labor and careful saving, he managed to buy freedom for himself and his family. Along the way, he subjected himself to a new Master, becoming a devoted preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was then that his life truly took on significance. (Emphasis mine)
It is interesting that he was a contemporary with America’s first white missionary, Adoniram Judson, who achieved fame with his adventures in Burma (Myanmar). He departed from US shores in 1812. Judson’s wife sent chronicles of their struggles back to America and kept readers in suspense.
Cary obviously had God’s guiding hand on him just as Judson did. His many endeavors were successful. He never experienced the dreaded African fever that claimed the lives of many of his contemporaries. He was an organizer of men and started a black missionary society in Virginia, as well as a church in Liberia. He learned all that he could about medicine and has been labeled a layman physician; he cared about others.
Perry Thomas’ book does an amazing job narrating the story of Cary’s life. The book ends abruptly, however, just as Cary’s life did, with no “foreshadowing” of his sudden death at age 48 in an explosive accident with gunpowder, caused by a friend.
His life is another example of someone who was determined to follow the call of God. It was a call that called others to come serve the same Master that he served. We all can agree with the following remark on Amazon Books, about the day that Jesus took control of Cary’s life: It was then his life truly took on significance. It fits all our stories.
We can expect to see Cary’s smiling face around God’s throne someday.