Forgotten Fire – The Legacy of Harry Hoosier
🔥 Forgotten Fire: The Remarkable Legacy of Harry Hosier, America’s First Black Methodist Preacher
In the shadow of every great movement, there are figures whose light burned bright but whose names have faded over time. One such figure is Harry Hosier—a man who could not read or write, but who preached with such power that crowds mistook him for a bishop. His story is not only a lesson in courage and calling; it’s a call to rediscover the Spirit-led passion that once set the American frontier ablaze with revival.
A Voice from the Margins
Born around 1750, likely into slavery in North Carolina, Harry Hosier’s early life was marked by the limitations placed on people of African descent in colonial America. But the gospel, as it always does, made room for a man the world tried to push aside.
Harry became associated with Bishop Francis Asbury, the key figure in early American Methodism. What began as a role driving Asbury’s carriage soon turned into something far greater. Hosier began preaching alongside Asbury at camp meetings and revivals—and the results were electric. Though illiterate, he memorized Scripture and sermons with astonishing precision, and when he spoke, the power of the Holy Spirit came through in ways that stunned his listeners.
Preaching that Turned Heads—and Hearts
Hosier’s most famous sermon, “The Barren Fig Tree,” based on Luke 13, called people to spiritual fruitfulness and repentance. Delivered in Virginia in 1781, it is considered the first Methodist sermon by an African American. Though we have no written transcript, those who heard it were profoundly moved. One eyewitness, Dr. Benjamin Rush—a signer of the Declaration of Independence—said that, “making allowances for his illiteracy, he was the greatest orator in America.”
In fact, Hosier’s preaching was so powerful that people sometimes thought he was Asbury. On more than one occasion, people approached Asbury and said that they enjoyed hearing his preaching—after just hearing Hosier speak! Asbury himself once said, “He is gifted—he could preach the gospel better than I can.” A profound statement of humility and recognition.
The Mysterious Origins of “Hoosier”
An intriguing part of Harry Hosier’s legacy is the theory that the term “Hoosier,” now used for residents of Indiana, may have come from his name. Some say that frontier settlers so admired him that they began calling themselves “Hosier’s men,” which over time morphed into “Hoosiers.”
Another theory connects the name to early theological debates. As Methodism spread through Indiana, people unfamiliar with theological labels were asked if they were Calvinists. Not knowing the term Arminian, but knowing they followed the teaching of preachers like Hosier, they responded, “No, we’re Hoosiers.”
While historians debate the truth of this etymology, the fact that such legends persist is a testament to his spiritual footprint—especially in a region where Methodism took deep root.
Honoring a Hidden Giant
Though his name was long neglected, Hosier is beginning to receive the honor he is due:
- A bust of Harry Hosier stands on the campus of Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, placed alongside Bishop Asbury in a statue complex honoring Methodist pioneers.
- The Harry Hosier Institute, launched at Asbury Seminary’s Florida campus, promotes Black Christian studies and honors Hosier’s legacy with academic programs and preaching awards.
- He is recognized by the United Methodist Church as a key figure in its history, especially during Black History Month.
Yet despite these acknowledgments, no full sermons of his survive. We remember him only through the echoes of those who heard him—and were never the same again.
A Legacy That Still Speaks
Harry Hosier’s life speaks to anyone who’s ever felt disqualified or overlooked. He had no seminary degree, no pulpit of his own, no written works. But he had the Word of God hidden in his heart, and a fire in his bones that refused to be ignored.
He is a reminder that you don’t have to be educated to be anointed. You don’t have to be prominent to be powerful. And you don’t have to be in the spotlight to carry the light.
May his story inspire a new generation to rise from the margins, step into their calling, and set the world on fire with grace and truth.
“If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.”
— Jeremiah 20