Liberia, Diocese of

The 1844 General Convention established the Missionary District of Cape Palmas and Parts Adjacent. The first Missionary Bishop of the District was John Payne, after whom the Bishop Payne Divinity School for African Americans in Petersburg was named. In 1884 the House of Bishops elected Samuel David Ferguson Missionary Bishop. He was the first African American man elected bishop in the Episcopal Church and was the first Liberian bishop. On Oct. 17, 1913, the name of the jurisdiction was changed to the Missionary District of Liberia. Cuttington College was incorporated on Dec. 18, 1923. Robert Erskine Campbell of the Order of the Holy Cross was elected Missionary Bishop on Oct. 17, 1925, by the House of Bishops. Campbell was the first monk elected and consecrated bishop in the Episcopal Church. Dillard Houston Brown, Jr., the ninth Missionary Bishop of Liberia, was assassinated on Nov. 19, 1969, by a Nigerian nationalist. On Jan. 1, 1970, the Missionary District of Liberia became the Diocese of Liberia. On Mar. 18, 1982, the Diocese of Liberia became a full member of the Church of the Province of West Africa and was no longer a part of the Episcopal Church.