Alexander Crummell

?This study, ' [the author] explains in the prologue, will limit its focus to Crummell's Pan-African ideas and his spiritual approach to life.' As Crummell's life falls into four distinct periods, Rigsby has skillfully chronicled it into four chapters. Crummell was born of a free black family in New York City. He graduated from Oneida Institute in 1837, was ordained as an Episcopalian priest in 1840, and received the AB degree from Cambridge University in 1853. His subsequent career included fund raising in England, foreign missionary work, and teaching in Liberia. Returning to the US in 1870, Crummell became pastor of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Washington, DC. Rigsby's book is well reachered, well written, meticulously documented, and includes vignettes that make fascinating reading.?-Choice