By Bonnie Withers

Let’s take a moment to remember Lewis McGee, born to a former slave in Pennsylvania in 1893. As an African Methodist Episcopal minister, McGee served as a chaplain in WW II. His interest in science and his belief in human reason led him to be unsatisfied with the idea of God as all powerful. What could he do to bring his humanist views to Black people? After the war, McGee studied for the Unitarian ministry at Meadville-Lombard. And then some all too familiar roadblocks arose. No largely White congregation would call him.

McGee and his wife started a liberal church for the Black community in Chicago called the Free Religious Fellowship. The Unitarian leaders in the area supported this effort but after a time, McGee wanted to try again to lead a Unitarian Church. The church in Flint, Michigan, had him preach, but didn’t have enough votes to call him. Next he became assistant minister at First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles. Finally, in 1961, Lewis McGee became the first Black man to serve as senior minister of a mostly White Unitarian Church in Chico, California. 

(This material is drawn from the website of Meadville Lombard Theological School.)