Pastor Daniels Ekarte and the African Churches Mission

A young man arrived in Liverpool from Nigeria around 1915, expecting to find the streets paved with gold. The Dingle area of Toxteth he settled in was instead depressed, poor, racist, and to his mind, ungodly. In 1931, he founded the African Churches Mission, in which he not only conducted services but also fed and clothed the poor of the community, and housed seamen and others denied accommodation due to the colour of their skin. He also provided a home for the unwanted children of local white women left behind by their fathers, African American servicemen who returned home when World War II ended. As a radical supporter of pro-independence and anti-racist movements in the African Diaspora, he was regarded as troublesome by the Establishment, and therefore received no state or voluntary support, not even from the Anti-Slavery Society. Nevertheless, he and his mission soldiered on for over thirty years, until the dilapidated building was finally demolished by the Council in 1964. Using British and international sources, historian Marika Sherwood has pieced together this account of the remarkable life and work of Pastor Daniels Ekarte (referred to as the African Saint), retelling an inspiring story of kindness, activism, Black pride and resilience in a city built on the exploitation of his Continent.

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