These lines are written because it is believed that our Church has had to suffer because only _one side_ of the story has been told by any person of the race, and in nearly, if not every instance, by those unfriendly to the relation the colored man has sustained to the Church; because some wrong impressions may be righted by the collation of facts that lay bare the glaring inaccuracies hitherto related concerning the imposition of the white members of the Church upon the colored; to show that, so far as the question goes, the heart of the Methodist Episcopal Church has always been right; and that, though errors may have been committed, they have been, in most instances, from the head and not from the heart of the Church; that it has come as near reaching the proper solution of the question, “What shall be done with the colored man?” as any other organization that has had to do with the question. There has been no intentional reflection or false or prejudicial statement made herein. Many “_stubborn facts_” have been left out, that might have been properly included. Though the story has not been told with the polished language of a Chesterfield, nor the logical acuteness of Aristotle, nor with the erudite diction of one born in the college, it is hoped that some good, and _no harm_, may be accomplished thereby; those of the race who have not had the opportunity to know some facts herein related may be enabled to teach their children that there is no need of blushing when the past history of the Church touching this question is being recited; but that it is a benefit to the race, as well as an honor, to be numbered with the million and a half members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS. ---------- CHAPTER I PAGE. BEFORE THE WAR, 17 CHAPTER II THE COLOR-LINE SECESSIONS, 35 CHAPTER III THE CRISIS—ITS CAUSE, 64 CHAPTER IV THE COLORED PASTORATE, 83 CHAPTER V THE RETROSPECT, 104 CHAPTER VI DURING THE WAR, 116 CHAPTER VII THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1864, 130 CHAPTER VIII THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT WORK, 148 CHAPTER IX THE COLORED BISHOP QUESTION, 167 CHAPTER X WHY ASK FOR A BISHOP OF AFRICAN DESCENT? 192