First Rev. Frost Pollitt Memorial Endowment Lecture Set for October 15 at Salisbury University
On Wednesday, October 15, at 7:00 p.m. in the Wicomico Room, Guerrieri Center, at Salisbury University, Salisbury, Maryland, the inaugural lecture will be the first of an annual series on Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Delmarva African American History created in memory of the Rev. Frost Pollitt, an itinerant African American preacher, first within the all –White Philadelphia Conference and later as a founding member of the Delaware Conference created in 1864. The lecture is presented through the generous support of the Rev. Frost Pollitt Memorial Endowment at the Salisbury University Foundation and co-sponsored by the Fulton School and the Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture at Salisbury University.
The lecture, entitled, “’This is My Story; this is my Song’: Connecting the Shared History of African Americans in United Methodism” will be presented by Rev. David W. Brown, author of Freedom Drawn From Within: A History of the Delaware Annual Conference. Brown will discuss the history of the Delaware Annual Conference for African American Methodist Churches in the Mid-Atlantic States, which covered the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Delaware, Eastern Pennsylvania, and parts of New Jersey, founded in 1864. He received his Masters of Theological Studies with a focus on Social Policy from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now Palmer Theological Seminary). Rev. Brown is an ordained Deacon in the United Methodist Church, and is a member of the ministry staff at Arch Street UMC in Center City. As a Deacon, his work includes issues around race, casino opposition, public education reform, economic development and healthcare reform. He is a past president of the Black United Methodist Preachers (BUMP) in Greater Philadelphia, and is currently vice coordinator of Black Methodists for Church Renewal (BMCR) for the Eastern PA Conference.
The last known Frost Pollitt Day was held in October 1967 at Mt. Calvary Methodist Church in Fruitland, Maryland. Rev. Frost Pollitt’s sister, Tamer Pollitt Burris, is buried in the church cemetery.
The general public is cordially invited to this free event.