Biography william j seymour

African American holiness pentecostal preacher

William Joseph Seymour (May 2, 1870 – September 28, 1922) was a Holiness Pentecostal preacher who initiated the Azusa Street Revival, an influential event in the rise of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, particularly Holiness Pentecostalism. He was the second of eight children born in an African-American family to emancipated slaves.

Seymour was a student of the early Pentecostal minister Charles Parham, and he adopted Parham's belief that speaking in tongues was the sign of receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit. In 1906, Seymour moved to Los Angeles, California, where he preached the Pentecostal message and sparked the Azusa Street Revival. The revival drew large crowds of believers as well as media coverage that focused on the controversial religious practices as well as the racially integrated worship services, which violated the racial norms of the time. Seymour's leadership of the revival and