Presbyterian Pioneers in Congo

by William Henry Sheppard

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Genres: Africa, History

76 pages, Paperback

Published January 11, 2010

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Henry Sheppard was an African American missionary to the Congo Free State in the late nineteenth century. This is his incomplete autobiography and is really an entertaining read. The most interesting part is Sheppard's visit to the king of the Bakuba. He was one of the first outsiders to visit the capital and he records his observations and impressions with detail and candor.

[Imaduddin Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

A black American pastor explores the Congo and preaches. He does not note that the initiative to send him was one to get southern blacks to return by a racist Senator. He refers to the Congolese as "teeming" "natives". But this is still a fascinating account by an intrepid explorer, who survives a crocodile competing for a hippo carcass underwater and who gains admission to the secretive kingdom of King Lukenga by virtue of his gregariousness and his language skills. To the king, he is introduced as one of the early settlers and died, and whose spirit went to a foreign country and now has returned, and then when he tries to set the record straight, is informed by the king, "You don't know it, but you are one of the family." King Lukenga an early Bob Marley?

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

The copy I read was a collection published by the First Presbyterian Church of Annison, AL to mark the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Samuel Norvell Lapsley (born April 14, 1866). It was titled "Four Presbyterian Pioneers in Congo," and included the 1893 "Life and Letters of Samuel Norvell Lapsley: Missionary to the Congo Valley, West Africa, published by Whittet & Shepperson, Printers, Tenth and Main Streets, Richmond, VA. This work consisted chiefly of Lapsley's diaries from the two years of his missionary life in Congo.

Also added to the collection, in addition to Shephard's account, there are shorter accounts of Shepherd's wife, Lucy Gantt Shepard as well as a section on Maria Fearing, "Mother to African Girls."

The events occurred 55 years prior to the time my parents began their service with the same American Presbyterian Congo Mission (APCM), building on the work of these stalwart pioneers.

[Hans · Rating 3 out of 5]

At last a peaceful colonialist in Congo.
A black missionary , William Henry Sheppard, lives for 20 years among the natives peacefully.
A 19th century travellog of an experience of first contact between an American and the Congolese .
What a relief to read about a different type of approach than the English, Dutch and Belgian discoverers , traders, exploiters, slavers, colonialists.
While Leopold was creating hell, here was someone who appreciated the people and the surroundings.