{{Short description|Liberian missionary (c. 1860–1929)}} {{Infobox person | name =William Wadé Harris | image =Harris.jpg | alt = | caption =William Wadé Harris dressed in a white robe and turban, carrying a Bible and bamboo cross. | birth_name= | birth_date =1860 | birth_place =Graway Village, Liberia | baptised = 1881 | death_date =1929 | death_place = | occupation =Religious preacher | known_for =Prophet-Evangelist of West Africa | spouse =Rose Badik Farr | children =6 }} '''William Wadé Harris''' (c. 1860 – 1929) was a Liberian Grebo evangelist, who preached in Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.<ref name=Amanor>{{cite journal|last=Amanor|first=Jones Darkwa|title=Pentecostalism in Ghana: An African Reformation|journal=Cyberjournal for Pentecostal-Charismatic Research|url=http://www.pctii.org/cyberj/cyberj13/amanor.html|access-date=9 February 2011}}</ref> He has been described as the "most extraordinary one man evangelical crusade that Africa has ever known"<ref name=Shank>{{cite journal|last=Shank|first=David|title=The legacy of William Wadé Harris|journal=International Bulletin of Missionary Research|year=1986|volume=10|issue=4|pages=170–176|url=http://www.internationalbulletin.org/issues/1986-04/1986-04-170-shank.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517090437/http://www.internationalbulletin.org/issues/1986-04/1986-04-170-shank.pdf|url-status=usurped|archive-date=May 17, 2017|doi=10.1177/239693938601000408|s2cid=148782350}}</ref> and is considered one of the originators of today's prosperity gospel.<ref name=Larson />
== Early life == Harris was born in 1860 as a Kru man of the Grebo tribe in Liberia. He was born to a "heathen father", at a time when the heathens and Christians lived in separate parts of the village. His mother lived as a Christian in the midst of a family life that was associated with traditional sacrifices and witch doctoring.<ref name=Shank/>
When Harris was 12, he served as a ward to Rev. Jesse Lowrie of the Methodist Episcopal Mission. Through him, Harris learnt how to read and write in both Grebo and English. Harris converted to Christianity in 1881 or 1882 when he was baptised by Rev. Lowrie.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ajet/21-1_003.pdf|title=WILLIAM WADE HARRIS: PREMIER AFRICAN EVANGELIST|last=Omulokoli|first=Watson|website=Biblical Studies UK|access-date=18 March 2017}}</ref>
After Lowrie went to Cape Palmas, Harris became a (Kru-boy) crew boy on board ships which sailed on the coast of West Africa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://irr.org/african-indigenous-churches-chapter-six|title=African Indigenous Churches — Chapter Six|last=Ayegboyin|first=Deji|date=11 May 2011|website=Institute for Religious Research|access-date=18 March 2017}}</ref> After he returned as a crew boy on ships and settled back home as a brick mason, he married Rose Badick Farr and had six children.<ref name=":1" />
In 1892, Harris left Methodism and joined the American Episcopal Mission as a school teacher and catechist.<ref name=":1" />
== Religious career == In 1910 he was arrested for his part in an insurrection, and he later indicated that while in prison he received a vision of the angel Gabriel.<ref name="Amanor" /> On July 27, 1913, Harris began on a missionary journey from Liberia to Ghana,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Leonard Allen|first=Gabriel|year=2016|title=William Wadé Harris: Prophet-Evangelist of West Africa|url=http://www.dacb.org/journal/1-5-Oct2016JACB-booklet-nocover.pdf|journal=Journal of African Christian Biography|volume=1|via=DACB}}</ref> clad in a white robe and a turban. He carried a bamboo cross, a Bible and a gourd rattle, symbolizing the African nature of his mission. Harris identified himself with the biblical prophet Elijah.<ref name="Jenkins" />
Harris preached an orthodox Christian message, with an emphasis on dealing with indigenous fetishes. He burned the objects and called on his hearers to spurn occult practices. He approved of polygamy, and traveled in the company of several wives.<ref name=Jenkins>{{cite book|last=Jenkins|first=Philip|title=The Next Christendom|url=https://archive.org/details/nextchristendomt00jenk|url-access=registration|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|page=[https://archive.org/details/nextchristendomt00jenk/page/49 49]|isbn=978-0-19-514616-5 |author-link=Philip Jenkins}}</ref> In an eighteen-month period in 1913–1914, Harris baptized over 100,000 new converts.<ref name=Shank /><ref>{{cite book|last=Irele|first=Abiola|title=The Oxford encyclopedia of African thought, Volume 1|year=2010|publisher=Oxford UP|isbn=978-0-19-533473-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hF_xjFL6_NEC&pg=PA432|author2=Biodun Jeyifo }}</ref>
He went on three more missionary journeys thereafter (1917-1918, 1919, and 1921), which he travelled from Liberia to Sierra Leone and back.<ref name=":0" />
Among those converted by Harris was Maame Harris Tani, who would go on to become his third wife and, later, to lead the Twelve Apostles Church of Ghana.<ref name="Sheldon2005">{{cite book|author=Kathleen E. Sheldon|title=Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=36BViNOAu3sC|year=2005|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-5331-7}}</ref>
== Death and legacy == Harris died in 1929 in extreme poverty. His preaching produced hundreds of "Harris" churches along the Ivory Coast, although many of his followers joined established denominations, both Catholic and Protestant.<ref name=Noll>{{cite book|last=Noll|first=Mark|title=Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity|year=2000|publisher=Baker Academic|location=Grand Rapids|author-link=Mark Noll|page=290}}</ref> Jones Darkwa Amanor suggests that he can "be considered as the precursor of the Pentecostal Movement in Ghana,"<ref name=Amanor /> while Mark Noll notes that his form of Christianity was "not as thoroughly indigenized as the Zionist movements of South Africa."<ref name=Noll />
David Shank argues that Harris's work "brought about a massive break with the external practices of traditional African religions all along the coast," including the disappearance of lascivious dance, huts for isolating women during their menstrual periods and a variety of taboos about days and places.<ref name=Shank />
Harris is also considered by many to be one of the originators of today's prosperity gospel.<ref name=Larson>{{Cite web|url=http://behindthebooks.ivpress.com/2011/04/inside_clouds_of_witnesses.php|title=William Wadé Harris and Other Christians You've Never Heard Of|last=Larson|first=Rebecca|date=18 April 2011|website=Intervarsity Press|access-date=18 March 2017}}</ref>
==See also== *Religion in Côte d'Ivoire
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *Shank, David A. ''Prophet Harris, the 'Black Elijah' of West Africa'' (Studies of Religion in Africa, No 10). Brill, 1994.
==External links== * {{PM20|FID=pe/007173}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, William Wade}} Category:Liberian Protestant missionaries Category:19th-century Protestants Category:1929 deaths Category:1860s births Category:Elijah Category:Angelic visionaries Category:Grebo people Category:Protestant missionaries in Liberia Category:Protestant missionaries in Ghana Category:Protestant missionaries in Ivory Coast Category:Liberian expatriates in Ghana Category:Liberian expatriates in Ivory Coast Category:Liberian expatriates in Sierra Leone Category:Prosperity theologians Category:Converts to Christianity from animism Category:Converts to Anglicanism from Methodism