William J. Seymour

I was born on this date in 1870. I'm too old for myspace! I was an African-American minister. From Centerville, Louisiana I was raised in the Baptist church and Ie had dreams and visions as a child. At the age of 25, I contracted smallpox and lost my sight in my left eye. In 1903, I moved to Houston, Texas, looking for relatives who had been lost during slavery. It was there that I accepted an interim pastorship of a small Holiness church of pastor, Lucy F. Farrow, a Black woman who had gone to Kansas. As an advisor, Farrow also described her Pentecostal experience and encouraged me to attend Charles Parham's school in Houston. Because of the segregation laws in Texas, I, was not allowed to sit in the classroom because I was a Black man. From the hallway, I listened through the doorway. Seymour moved to Southern California and developed a belief in glossolalia ("speaking in tongues") as a confirmation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Because I taught this, I was removed from the Los Angeles parish where I ministered. From there I found a run-down building in downtown Los Angeles located on Azusa Street, and preached my doctrinal beliefs; the result was the Azusa Street Revival.a:hover {color:FE8C8C !important; text-decoration: underline !important; font-style: normal !important; font-weight: normal !important; text-transform: uppercase !important; background-color:;