Profiles in African-American Chaplaincy

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Theophilus G. Steward

Chaplain, United States Army and Professor

Born: April 23, 1843, Gouldtown, New Jersey

Died: January 11, 1924, Wilberforce, Ohio

Field of chaplaincy: military and higher education

In 1865, Steward became ordained as a deacon and an elder in the AME church at only 21 years of age.
Between 1891 and 1906, Steward was a chaplain for the US 25th Infantry Black Regiment, where he educated enlisted men to read and write on top of religious duties.
While assuming chaplain duties during the Spanish-American War, Steward wrote The Colored Regulars in the United States Army, which outlined and gave a first hand account of the involvement of Black army units in Cuba.
During his time at Wilberforce University (1906-1918), Steward reorganized the institution to reflect different aspects of education, and he built foundational courses for a robust history of Black civil society.

Citations:

Elevating the race: Theophilus G. Steward, Black theology, and the making of an African American civil society, 1865-1924.

Steward, T. G. (1904). The colored regulars in the United States army: With a sketch of the history of the colored American, and an account of his services in the wars of the country, from the period of the revolutionary war to 1899. Philadelphia: A.M.E. Book Concern.