# Levi Coppin > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Levi_Coppin > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Levi_Coppin.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Coppin > Source revision: 1349123304 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American clergyman and missionary}} {{Use American English|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox person |name = Levi Jenkins Coppin |image = Levi J. Coppin.jpg |caption = Coppin in 1910 |birth_date = December 24, 1848 |birth_place = Fredericktown, Maryland |death_date = {{death date and age|1924|6|25|1848|12|24}} |death_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |other_names = L. J. Coppin |known_for = |occupation = writer, minister }} '''Bishop Levi Jenkins Coppin''' (December 24, 1848-June 25, 1924) was a minister of the [African Methodist Episcopal Church](/source/African_Methodist_Episcopal_Church), the editor of the ''AME Church Review'', and one of the founders of the [American Negro Academy](/source/American_Negro_Academy). Coppin was born in [Fredericktown, Maryland](/source/Fredericktown%2C_Maryland) to John Coppin and Jane (Lilly) Coppin.{{cite book |last1=Coppin |first1=Levi Jenkins |title=Unwritten History |date=1919 |publisher=A. M. E. Book Concern |location=Philadelphia, PA |url=https://www.docsouth.unc.edu/church/coppin/coppin.html |access-date=29 June 2022}} He was taught to read by his mother which was illegal behavior at the time.{{cite web | last=Bellmyer | first=Jane | title=Cecilton celebrates Juneteenth by honoring an iconic leader | website=Cecil Daily | date=2022-06-22 | url=https://www.cecildaily.com/news/cecilton-celebrates-juneteenth-by-honoring-an-iconic-leader/article_426f7196-00a5-567f-a5af-888f16154b1d.html | access-date=2022-06-29}} He joined the AME Church in 1865, and in 1866 was licensed to preach.{{cite book |last1=Crowell Hill |first1=Adelaide |last2=Kilson |first2=Martin |title=Apropos of Africa |date=1969 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780203042281 |chapter=Levi Jenkins Coppin, 1848–1924}} In 1867, he was admitted to the annual conference from the Bethel Church in [Wilmington, Delaware](/source/Wilmington%2C_Delaware). His first work as a pastor was in Philadelphia and he worked as a pastor at Bethel AME Church in [Baltimore, Maryland](/source/Baltimore) from 1881 to 1883.{{cite web | title=Our History | website=Bethel AME Church | date=2017-09-30 | url=http://bethel1.org/about-us/history/ | access-date=2022-06-29}} He attended the Philadelphia [Episcopal Divinity School](/source/Episcopal_Divinity_School) and graduated in 1887. He was elected editor of the African Methodist Episcopal Church Review in 1888, a position he held until 1896.{{cite news |title=Senior Prelate of A.M.E. Church Died June 25 at Phila |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/40471489/ |access-date=29 June 2022 |work=The New York Age |date=July 5, 1924 |page=1}} In 1900 Coppin was elected AME bishop for South Africa and he worked there and in Ethiopia as a missionary.{{cite web | title=Coppin, Fannie Marion Jackson (1837-1913) | website=History of Missiology | date=2015-08-20 | url=https://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/c-d/coppin-fannie-marion-jackson-1837-1913/ | access-date=2022-06-29}}{{cite book |last1=Jackson-Coppin |first1=Fanny |title=REMINISCENCES of School Life, and Hints on Teaching |date=1913 |publisher=A. M. E. Book Concern |location=Philadelphia, PA |page=122 |access-date=29 June 2022|url=https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/jacksonc/jackson.html}}{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of African-American culture and history |date=1996 |publisher=Macmillan Library Reference |location=New York |isbn=9780028973456 |pages=660-661 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofaf00v2unse/page/660/mode/2up |access-date=29 June 2022}} Coppin was a 33° Mason and was responsible for establishing the Masonic Lodge of Capetown. [[File:The Afro-American press and its editors (IA afroamericanpres00penn 0).pdf|thumb|page=11|Pdf of the 1892 book ''The Afro American Press and its Editors'' by [Irvine Garland Penn](/source/Irvine_Garland_Penn)]] Coppin married three times. In 1875 he married schoolteacher Martha Grinnage and they had a son, Octavius.{{cite book |title=Contemporary authors |date=2004 |publisher=Gale |location=Detroit, MI |isbn=9780787666996 |page=86 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780787666996/page/86/mode/2up |access-date=29 June 2022}} She died in 1877. In 1881 he married [Fanny Jackson Coppin](/source/Fanny_Jackson_Coppin) and they were together until her death in 1913. The couple traveled as missionaries to South Africa where they founded the Bethel Institute, a school which promoted self-help programs.{{cite web | title=Fannie Jackson Coppin (1837-1913) • | website=Welcome to Blackpast • | date=2007-11-20 | url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/coppin-fannie-jackson-1837-1913/ | access-date=2022-06-29}} In August of 1914 he married [M. E. Thompson Coppin](/source/M._E._Thompson_Coppin) and the couple had one daughter, Theodosia. ==Bibliography== * [https://archive.org/details/inmemoriamcather00copp In memoriam: Catherine S. Campbell Beckett] (1888) - from the Internet Archive * [https://archive.org/details/relationofbaptiz00copp The relation of baptized children to the church] (1890) - from the Internet Archive * [https://archive.org/details/08403788.4685.emory.edu The key to scriptural interpretation, or, Expository notes on obscure passages] (1895) - from the Internet Archive * [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/92e8a72e-3eec-1999-e040-e00a18060764 Observations of persons and things in South Africa, 1900-1904] (1905) - from NYPL Digital Collections * [https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/coppin/menu.html Unwritten History] (1919) - ebook from ''Documenting the American South'' ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Coppin, Levi Jenkins}} Category:1848 births Category:1924 deaths Category:African Methodist Episcopal bishops Category:20th-century Methodist bishops --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Levi Coppin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Coppin) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Coppin?action=history)). 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