The life and evolution of the ideological and political views of Henry Macneal Turner

Abstract

This article is the first attempt in Russian academic science to present the biography and critical analysis of the religious and political philosophy of one of the first and most famous ideologists of black nationalism in the United States – bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) Henry McNeal Turner. In this paper, the author examines the dynamics and reasons for the transformation of his ideological and political views throughout the entire period of his life (1834–1915), offering his own periodization. In the conclusion of this article, among other things, the author concludes about the reasons for the current popularity of the ideology of black nationalism and Henry Turner personally in the United States, which are associated with the cycles of development of the socio-political system. Turner was a renowned priest, eminent orator and publicist. Interest in his person and theoretical heritage among researchers in the West began to wake up relatively recently – in the mid-1970s.