A little-known aspect of the modern Pentecostal movement is the important role of African-Americans in both its inception and development. The birth, growth, expansion, and diversity of the Pentecostal movement were the direct result of the involvement and influence of African-American pioneers. Much can be learned from the history of this movement.

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A little-known aspect of the modern Pentecostal movement is the important role of African-Americans in both its inception and development. Occurring over the years of America’s most racist history, the Pentecostal movement was birthed in revival and quickly became interracial. Blacks and whites, Hispanics and Asians, men and women, and people from all over the world worshipped together in unprecedented unity.[1] As time went on, however, multiple factors put the interracial character of the revival to the test, and unfortunately, it did not survive. Nonetheless, the movement continued to multiply and expand its influence as separate factions.

Though doctrine caused many factions, racism caused others, generating the most injury. Over time, Pentecostalism was viewed simply as a white fundamentalist version of the movement, and its more extensive Black history faded into the background.[2] However, one cannot escape the dramatic influence African-Americans had on Pentecostalism, including the interracial nature that defined the revival from its inception. It must be acknowledged that the birth, growth, expansion, and diversity of the Pentecostal movement were the direct result of the involvement and influence of African-American pioneers. Furthermore, the future of the movement—as well as the Christian church at large—heavily depends on the same level of interracial unity as well. Much can be learned from the history of this movement.

Modern Pentecostalism is rooted in the Holiness movement, which also has a rich African-American history and is worthy of additional study. Nonetheless, many accept that the Pentecostal movement began in the early 20^th century between two men, Charles Fox Parham, a white man, and William Joseph Seymour, a black man.

Parham is generally recognized as the formulator of the Pentecostal doctrine and the theological founder of the movement.[3] Though the phenomenon of speaking with other tongues had previously been documented in Edward Irving’s services at the Presbyterian Church on Regent Square, London, in 1831, and another instance in 1875 during a service with Dwight L. Moody, it was Charles Parham who formally introduced as a doctrine the experience of speaking with other tongues as the evidence of having received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.[4] Parham formalized and taught this doctrine at his school, “Bethel Bible School,” which opened in 1900 in Topeka, Kansas. On New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1900, Parham held an all-night service at his school. As the service continued into January 1, 1901, one of his students, a woman named Agnes N. Ozman, was filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking with other tongues. This particular event is regarded by most as the beginning of the modern Pentecostal movement. Shortly afterward, many other students at Parham’s school also received the same experience. Interestingly enough, it was sometime later that Parham himself received the same experience.[5] He was then fully committed to preaching this message in all his services. However, it would be an African-American student named William J. Seymour who would become the catalyst of the Pentecostal movement.

William Joseph Seymour, the son of freed slaves, was born on  May 2, 1870, in Centerville, Louisiana.[6] Though slavery had recently been abolished six years earlier, the United States had entered what some historians call “the most racist period of American history (1890-1924).”[7] Due to the Jim Crow laws in the southern states, which were felt in other areas of the United States as well, racial tension and injustice were at an all-time high. Very little is known about Seymour’s early childhood, but he was enrolled in school at the age of ten. He had trouble reading and writing due to the lack of proper education for people of color.[8] At the age of twenty-five, Seymour moved north. Around this time, he contracted smallpox and went blind in one eye. Sometime later, he was introduced to the holiness movement and embraced the “second blessing” doctrine of sanctification.[9] In 1903, Seymour moved to Houston, Texas, and attended a small holiness church pastored by Lucy Farrow.

Lucy Farrow, an African-American woman and former slave, was the niece of notable African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglas.[10] She pastored a small Holiness church in Houston, Texas, and worked closely with the Parham’s where she received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Farrow was a gifted minister and operated in the power of the Holy Spirit. She became an influential “altar worker” in Parham’s ministry and helped seekers “pray through” to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.[11] She introduced William Seymour to the doctrine of Holy Spirit baptism and the evidence of speaking in tongues.[12] Shortly after this time, Charles Parham announced a new Bible school in Houston, Texas, and Lucy Farrow saw it as an opportunity for William Seymour. Though Parham and his school were subject to—and complied with—the Jim Crow laws of the south, Lucy Farrow persuaded William Seymour to attend, and he eventually enrolled.[13] Racial segregation in the South dictated that Seymour could not attend Parham’s school, but Lucy Farrow interceded directly to Charles Parham to accept Seymour’s enrollment.[14] Parham conceded under one condition. Since black students could not sit legally in the same classroom as whites, Seymour was instructed to sit in the hallway to hear the lectures. For several months, Seymour attended Parham’s school and heard and accepted Parham’s Pentecostal theology. Shortly after finishing his time at the school, the events leading up to the great Pentecostal revival quickly took place.

While attending Parham’s Bible school as a student, William Seymour met an African-American woman named Neely Terry, a visitor from Los Angeles and friend of Lucy Farrow. While in Houston, Terry received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. When she returned to Los Angeles, she found that her family and some close friends had organized a small black holiness mission, and recommended that Seymour be invited to pastor the church. Upon invitation, Seymour moved to Los Angeles in February 1906, preached his first sermon at the holiness church, and declared that speaking in tongues was evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit. Julia Hutchins, the elected pastor of the black Holiness mission, felt that this teaching was contrary to accepted Holiness views, and she ousted Seymour from the church. With nowhere to stay, Seymour was invited by Richard Asberry, a member of the small holiness church and relative of Neely Terry, to stay at his home located at 214 Bonnie Brae Street.[15] In the living room of this home, William Seymour began to hold prayer meetings and worship services, resulting in the events that ushered in the great Pentecostal revival.

In the beginning, these meetings were mainly attended by “negro washwomen,” and a few of their husbands.[16] In the weeks that followed, more and more people were intrigued and drawn to Seymour’s gatherings. News of these meetings soon began to spread into the white community, and by March 1906, many white Christians had joined this group of African-Americans and were actively seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking with other tongues.[17] Seymour continued to preach the Pentecostal message. However, neither he nor his attendees had yet received the manifestation. Feeling a sense of despair, Seymour reached out to Charles Parham and asked for help. In late March 1906, in response to Seymour’s plea for help, Parham sent Lucy Farrow to assist William Seymour. Shortly after her arrival, the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking with other tongues began to manifest.

When Lucy Farrow arrived in Los Angeles in late March, William Seymour announced a ten-day fast to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.[18] On April 9, 1906, a black janitor named Edward Lee asked Seymour to pray for him regarding healing. As the two men prayed together, Lee began speaking with other tongues as he was filled with the Holy Spirit.[19] Seymour immediately shared this testimony with those gathered at the Asberry home and stirred the attendees’ faith. Suddenly, “Seymour and seven others fell to the floor in a religious ecstasy, speaking with other tongues.”[20] When this happened, a young woman ran out of the house with excitement, bringing the attention of those in the neighborhood. News of what transpired in the home quickly spread to the rest of the area and eventually worldwide.

Crowds continued to grow inside and outside the Asberry home as people regularly received the baptism of the Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking with tongues. The crowds grew so large within one week that a larger space was needed to accommodate the growth. After a quick search, an old abandoned building was found in the “original African-American ghetto area.”[21] The building on Azusa Street once belonged to the African Methodist Episcopal Church, but the church moved and established itself farther south in the district. As a result of being abandoned, the facility was in an advanced state of disrepair. However, two white businessmen who had attended the meetings saw an opportunity to contribute to the growing revival and made significant, personal investments to restore the building.[22] After making enough preparations to secure and clean the facility, the Azusa Street Mission, as it was formally called, held their first meeting on April 14, 1906, and the interracial dynamics of whites working together with blacks was in full swing.

The revival continued to grow exponentially, both numerically and influentially. Visitors from all over the nation and around the world visited the Azusa Street Mission. Though Azusa Street began among African-Americans, the revival was truly interracial. Scores of blacks and whites, Hispanics and Asians, Native Americans and Jews attended the revival with unprecedented racial unity, which was miraculous considering the racial tension, segregation, and injustice experienced throughout most of the United States during that time. The ministerial leadership of the Azusa Street Revival reflected its interracial character. Twelve elders were appointed. Half were women, a fourth were African-American, and one was a ten-year-old girl.[23] Frank Bartleman, a white holiness preacher, famously stated, “The color line was washed away in the Blood [of Christ].”[24] For many years, people of all races, classes, sexes, and nationalities joined the movement and caused a ripple effect that swept the entire globe.

The first white man to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the Azusa Street Revival was Alfred Garr, pastor of a Holiness church in Los Angeles. After his experience, Garr and his wife traveled to India and Hong Kong as missionaries and preached the Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Spirit before returning home to the states. Many years later, Garr partnered with Sister Aimee Semple McPherson as a gifted preacher and teacher during the revival at Angelus Temple in 1923, birthing yet another interracial Pentecostal movement and denomination of international influence.[25] The impact of the Azusa Street revival continued to propagate in profound ways.

Two notable African-American women, among many others, also made a tremendous impact beginning at Azusa Street, namely Lucy Farrow and Julia Hutchins. Although Seymour is universally acclaimed as the leading figure of the Azusa Street revival, Mother Emma Cotton reported that “no one experienced the Pentecostal baptism until Lucy Farrow arrived and began praying for people to receive it.” After her initial stay in Los Angeles, which kicked off the revival, she departed and preached in Parham’s Houston Camp meeting and demonstrated “an unusual power to lay hands on people for the reception of the Holy Spirit.” [26] Later, she conducted a Pentecostal revival in Portsmouth, Virginia, during which 200 people were saved and 150 were baptized in the Spirit. By the time she left the state, hundreds had received the baptism with the Holy Spirit and new Pentecostal congregations were formed. She then stopped through various other cities in the United States, and later journeyed as one of the first Pentecostal missionaries to Liberia, West Africa, along with her ministry companion, Julia Hutchins, who had previously excommunicated William Seymour from her small Holiness church in Los Angeles.[27]

Julia Hutchins eventually became a wholehearted supporter of Seymour and later attended the Azusa Street Revival and was baptized with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. Hutchins, along with her husband and niece, accompanied Lucy Farrow as itinerant evangelists and held revivals in various cities across the nation, including Chattanooga, Tennessee, and New York. Later, they traveled to Liberia, Africa, and held a revival where people received the baptism of the Holy Spirit along with the evidence of speaking with other tongues.[28] These two African-American women, Lucy Farrow and Julia Hutchins, made an impact in the United States and Liberia as a result of the Azusa Street revival, and they were not the only ones. Another missionary to Africa was also greatly influenced by the revival.

John G. Lake, the world-renown faith healer and white missionary to South Africa, met Seymour through Parham while in Houston and reported receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit under Parham’s ministry. Lake visited the Azusa Street Mission before taking the Pentecostal message to South Africa in 1908. Inspired by the racial unity he saw at the revival between blacks and whites, Lake was inspired to carry out the same interracial vision in Africa.[29]  However, as time went on, the nation became racially divided with the later apartheid policies of the government. Unfortunately, the Pentecostal movement in South Africa became racially divided as well. Nonetheless, through the ministry of John G. Lake and other missionaries, African Pentecostalism was established.[30] The Pentecostal movement birthed at Azusa continued to spread around the globe.

From Europe, a white man named Thomas Barratt, an English Methodist minister was touring the United States in 1907 to raise money for his mission work in Norway when he first caught wind of the Azusa Street revival. Deeply moved by what he heard, his faith was stirred, and he promptly began seeking his own “Pentecost”– the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which he later received. Barratt returned home in Norway and led his congregation into a Pentecostal revival, the results of which would rival those of North America in terms of global impact, which extended to England, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Amsterdam, France, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), and China. Interestingly enough, among those initially drawn to Barratt’s meetings was an Anglican rector from Sunderland, England named Alexander Boddy. When Boddy returned to Sunderland, he brought with him the Pentecostal message, and a revival followed. It was there that a man named Smith Wigglesworth, destined to become an international evangelist of almost legendary status, received his Spirit baptism.[31] That being the case, the ministry of Smith Wigglesworth was birthed through a chain of events leading back to William Seymour and the Azusa Street revival. The global impact of this revival, started by a humble African-American man who embraced an interracial ideal, was truly profound and accelerated the Pentecostal movement almost beyond comprehension.

In the United States, the effectiveness of the revival would gain even more momentum through the ministry of a black preacher named Charles Harrison Mason. Bishop C. H. Mason had his roots in the Holiness movement, a powerful movement that preceded—and was the forerunner to—the revival that sparked the Pentecostal movement. In 1895, Mason and his ministry partner, C. P. Jones, founded a wildly successful black holiness church called the Church of God in Christ. Two years later, in 1897, the new church was incorporated and chartered as a denomination.[32] This church was the first southern holiness denomination to become legally chartered, allowing ordained ministers of Mason’s church to become lawfully credentialed as a minister, a status recognized by government authority. As a result, many white ministers received ordination from Mason, making his church interracial, which was truly remarkable in light of the racist dynamics of the day. Furthermore, the church’s interracial character became even more pronounced after Mason’s transformation at Azusa Street.[33]       

In 1906, Mason and Jones received reports of a widely heralded revival being held in Los Angeles by Elder William Joseph Seymour, a black brother and the son of slave parents,[34] and in 1907, Mason and two ministry companions traveled to Los Angeles. They were deeply impacted by what they saw and experienced at Azusa Street. A short time later, Mason was baptized with the Holy Spirit and spoke with other tongues under the guidance of Seymour on March 19, 1907.[35] Upon returning home in Memphis, Tennessee, Mason led the Church of God in Christ into a doctrinal reformation. As a result, the Church of God—pioneered by an African-American bishop with a heart for interracial diversity and unity in Christ—became the first, legally chartered Pentecostal denomination. Scores of both black and white Pentecostal ministers received ordination from Mason’s church. As a result, the interracial Church of God in Christ effectively began to multiply Pentecostal churches around the nation.

The first to be planted in the western part of the United States was The Saints Home Church of Los Angeles. In 1914, three veteran women from the Azusa Street revival gathered a group of saints left wandering after the revival ended, and they contacted C. H. Mason for help. In response, Mason urged Eddie R. Driver, a white minister, to answer the call. When he arrived in Los Angeles, Driver was amazed by the interracial unity among those attending this group. Within a year, Driver established a healthy church incorporated as The Saints Home Church under the Church of God in Christ. In yet another example of the cascading effects originating from Azusa Street, within a few short years, a young evangelist named Aimee Semple McPherson arrived in Los Angeles and regularly worshipped at this interracial church before launching her ministry and revival at Angelus Temple in Los Angeles. McPherson and Driver remained friends, exchanged pulpits, and at times held combined fellowship services.[36] Over the years, Mason continued to experience tremendous success throughout the Church of God in Christ, which eventually became the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States. Both Mason and Seymour worked hard in their respective ministries to maintain racial unity. However, the interracial character was put to the test, and unfortunately, it did not survive.

The events at Azusa Street caught the attention of secular media. The first secular news report of the revival appeared on April 18, 1906. The Los Angeles Daily Times (now “Los Angeles Times”) published an article titled, “Weird Babel of Tongues.” It stated, “Colored people and a sprinkling of whites compose the congregation, and the night is made hideous in the neighborhood by the howlings of the worshippers.” The article also referred to an “old colored mammy,” and of Seymour, “an old colored exhorter, blind in one eye.”[37] Nonetheless, despite the negative press coverage, the revival continued to grow. The secular press caused the news of the revival to spread far and wide, piquing the curiosity of many. The real threat to the revival did not come from the criticism of secular media. Unfortunately, it came from the criticism within the religious community. Many ministers spoke ill of the revival, discounted the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, and related the movement to the work of the devil. However, it was the criticism of Charles Parham in particular that caused significant injury to the movement.

Early in the days of the Azusa Street Mission, Charles Parham received concerning news of the revival. Among the first to communicate to Parham was William Seymour. As the revival experienced a move of the Holy Spirit, it also attracted spiritualists and mediums from numerous occult societies in Los Angeles. They began contributing their seances and trances to the services. Disturbed by these developments, Seymour reached out to Parham for advice.[38] Others reported to Parham that “all the stunts common in old camp meetings among colored folks” were performed in the services. Parham also received a report that “white people [were] imitating [the] unintelligent, crude negroisms of the Southland, and laying it on the Holy Spirit.” In October of 1906, Parham, whom Seymour claimed as his “father in the Gospel of the Kingdom,” arrived in Los Angeles.[39] Upon Parham’s arrival at the Azusa Street Mission, he was shocked by what he saw, and he made efforts to bring correction. Parham condemned the spiritualists and mediums for practicing witchcraft in the services, and he also made efforts to correct the extreme forms of fanaticism he saw. However, Parham took his correction much further. He did not hold back his distaste for what he called “darky camp meeting stunts” and “fits and spasms of spiritualists.”[40] Because of his racist comments, some assert that the “spiritualists” Parham corrected were made up entirely of black Pentecostal believers with religious customs rooted in African-American expression.[41] However, William Seymour was also concerned about spiritualists and mediums practicing witchcraft. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that Parham noticed and corrected some real forms of spiritualism and witchcraft. Nonetheless, one cannot escape that Parham crossed the line into bonafide racism, condemning not only genuine witchcraft but also conflating the practice with genuine forms of African-American expression. This was further evidenced by additional comments Parham made regarding the revival. He denounced the “mixing of races prevalent in the services.” Later, he published the words, “Men and women, whites and blacks knelt together or fell across one another; frequently a white women [sp], perhaps of wealth and culture, could be seen thrown back into the arms of a ‘buck nigger,’ and held tightly thus as she shivered and shook in freak imitation of Pentecost. Horrible, awful shame! [Azusa Street was too much like a] darky revival.”[42] Unfortunately, as a result of Parham’s racist antics, many whites—though not all—left the group, and the beginning of racial fissures within the movement began.

Perhaps the most significant racial split within the Pentecostal movement occurred in 1914 among white ministers within the Church of God in Christ. The leader of the church, C. H. Mason, would not accept the separation of Christians based on race. Hundreds of white Pentecostal preachers were ordained by Mason and given credentials from the Church of God in Christ in the years before World War I. In addition, Mason’s powerful preaching style, charismatic personality, and brotherly love attracted thousands of whites. To accommodate and foster the growth within the white community, Mason enacted a “gentleman’s agreement” allowing white ministers to issue credentials on behalf of the Church of God in Christ. However, as time went on, some white pastors began to hold separate Bible conferences and later organized a new denomination called the Assemblies of God.[43] Though doctrine played a substantial part in forming this new denomination, the organization was intentionally founded among white ministers, causing a significant racial fissure in the Pentecostal movement, one that lasted for at least 80 years and, in many ways, is still felt today.

Shortly following the formation of the Assemblies of God, and much to the despair of C. H. Mason, many within Pentecostalism started to view the Church of God in Christ as the black Pentecostal movement, and the Assemblies of God as the white Pentecostal movement. Though not all whites left the Church of God in Christ and some blacks attended the Assemblies of God, these newly defined designations generally cemented racial segregation within Pentecostalism. Furthermore, in 1948, white Pentecostals organized the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America and denied membership to black Pentecostals.[44] Over time, what was generally viewed as “Pentecostalism” was only a white fundamentalist version of the movement. Many overlooked William Seymour as a pioneer and attributed the origins of the movement primarily with Charles Parham. Others viewed the formation of the Assemblies of God as the beginning of the modern Pentecostal movement. Some argued that the movement had no pioneers at all, but was simply an organic work of the Holy Spirit. [45] Unfortunately, as a result of these viewpoints, the more extensive black history within the movement faded into the background. However, recent attempts have been made to restore the remarkable history of the Pentecostal movement, a history that includes the beautiful African-American roots, the interracial character of the revival, the extraordinary growth and acceleration of the movement around the world, the painful racism from within, and the fissures that took place. As a result of these efforts, many in the Pentecostal community have come to terms with its history, taking steps to heal the past and secure the future. Perhaps the most remarkable example of this took place in 1994 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Recognizing the need to heal the racial divisions within Pentecostalism, church leaders of all races and ethnicities came together in Memphis on October 18, 1994, and dissolved the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America, the all-white organization formed in 1948. The next day a new, interracial organization called the Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches of North America was formed, signaling a new era of ecumenism in the Body of Christ. On the same day, a white Assemblies of God pastor, Donald Evans, approached the platform and tearfully explained that he felt the Lord’s leading to wash the feet of Bishop Ithiel Clemmons, a prominent leader within the Church of God in Christ. While doing so, Evans begged forgiveness for the racist sins of whites against blacks within the Pentecostal movement. For these reasons, this event became known as the “Memphis Miracle,” and it is a beautiful milestone in the history of Pentecostalism.[46] Also, as recently as 2016, the Assemblies of God published an article acknowledging that the church had “caved into culture, with its racism and segregation laws; and, for decades the multiracial, multicultural aspect of the Azusa Revival was not lived out in our churches. But, in these last days, the anthem of Azusa is being lived out again: Where the blood line washes out the color line. The world will know Him not because we all agree on everything, but because we love another.”[47]

Today, the Pentecostal movement is thriving with nearly 644 million followers—and growing—representing twenty-six percent of all Christians worldwide, including many in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.[48] What started as a small prayer gathering among African-Americans in a small home in Los Angeles had turned into a revival that completely altered the course of human history around the world.

The Pentecostal movement is rich with history, some good and some not-so-good. From its humble beginnings to an extraordinary outcome—and in spite of the mistakes and sins of imperfect people—the impact of this movement is truly remarkable and can only be explained as a move of God. Moreover, it must be recognized that at its core, the Pentecostal movement was not—and is not— “fundamentally black” or “fundamentally white,” but rather “fundamentally God.” From that position, all the variations of beautiful, God-honoring religious expressions across different cultures around the world ought to be appreciated.

Though this article barely scratches the surface regarding the contributions of African-American Pentecostals, history is clear that the birth, growth, expansion, and diversity of the Pentecostal movement is the direct result of the involvement and influence of these pioneers. Therefore, the African-American roots of this movement and the interracial character during the revival must be recognized and honored. Furthermore, the movement’s future—including the Christian church at large—heavily depends on an increasing level of interracial unity, biblical faith, optimistic hope, and most importantly, brotherly love.

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NOTES

[1] Vinson Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997), 167.

[2] Bishop Ithiel C. Clemmons, Bishop C. H. Mason and the Roots of the Church of God in Christ (Largo: Christian Living Books, 1996), 37.

[3] Vinson Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2001), 42.

[4] Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition, 87-89.

[5] Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition, 91.

[6] Estrelda Y. Alexander, The Dictionary of Pan-African Pentecostalism (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2018), 366.

[7] Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit, 104.

[8] James D. Croone Sr., Seymour & Parham (Las Vegas: Create Space, 2016), 2.

[9] Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit, 275.

[10] Croone Sr., 38-39. John Hunt, The Essential Writings of the American Black Church (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2008) 380.

[11] Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition, 94.

[12] Alexander, 155.

[13] Roberts Liardon, God’s Generals (New Kensington: Whitaker House, 1996), 142-143.

[14] C. M. Robeck Jr., The Azusa Street Mission and Revival (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc., 2006), 47.

[15] Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition, 96.

[16] Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit, 47.

[17] Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit, 48.

[18] Robeck, 66.

[19] Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit, 47-48.

[20] Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit, 49.

[21] Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit, 50.

[22] Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit, 50-61.

[23] Amos Yong and Estrelda Y. Alexander, Afro-Pentecostalism: Black Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity and History and Culture (New York: NYU Press, 2011), 106.

[24] Yolanda Spencer, “WK2 Lecture Session 1 Road to Azusa,” August 10. 2021, YouTube video, 24:38, https://youtu.be/ujwKrXjTVfA.

[25] Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition, 101-102. Van Cleave, Nathaniel M., The Vine and the Branches: A History of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel (Los Angeles: ICFG, 1992), 9-10.

[26] Yong, 155-156.

[27] Yong, 155-156.

[28] Alexander, 155-156, 218-219.

[29] Alexander, 31.

[30] Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit, 7.

[31] Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit, 71-75.

[32] Clemmons, 1. Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition, 70-71.

[33] Clemmons, 27. Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition, 71.

[34] Clemmons, 27, 26.

[35] Clemmons, 27, 26.

[36] Clemmons, 27, 89-98.

[37] “Weird Babel of Tongues,” Los Angeles Times, April 18, 1906, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22155395/1906-april-weird-babel-of-tongues/.

[38] Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition, 100.

[39] Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition, 100-102.

[40] Croone Sr., 21.

[41] Clemmons, 47. Yong, 108-109.

[42] Croone Sr., 22.

[43] Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit, 104-105.

[44] Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit, 283.

[45] Clemmons, 37-42.

[46] Darren Rogers, “The Story Behind the Foot Washing at the 1994 Memphis Miracle,” Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, July 13, 2011, https://ifphc.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/donaldevans/.

[47] George O. Wood, “What Azusa Had and We Need,” Assemblies of God, April 8, 2016,  https://news.ag.org/es-ES/Features/What-Azusa-Had-and-We-Need.

[48] “Global Pentecostalism,” Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, Accessed September 25, 2021, https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/research/global-pentecostalism/ . From January 2018 to June 2020, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity worked in partnership with Oral Roberts University and Empowered21 to cull this data, which was released in 2020.