# Reverend William Henry Sheppard (1865–1927) - "Black-White" missionary to the Congo



## Pergamum (Sep 27, 2013)

I came across the story of William Sheppard while reading the haunting non-fiction account of the Belgian Congo *King Leopold's Ghost* by Adam Hochshild. 

Sheppard was a black missionary sent out by the Southern Presbyterians to the Belgian Congo. He seemed to live in the harshest, remote areas and spoke out about the atrocities of the Belgian government there.

I'd like to research him further.

William Henry Sheppard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'd also like to research the Reverend Samual Lapsley who accompanied Sheppard to the Congo until he died there of fever.

I am also looking for Sheppard's publication:



> Sheppard, William H. (1917). Presbyterian Pioneers in Congo. Richmond, Va., Presbyterian committee of publication.




Kennedy / Turner



This Day in Presbyterian History · February 25: William Henry Sheppard




> Becoming a pastor at Zion Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia, Shepherd found himself restless and applied with the PCUS Mission board to go to the Congo as a missionary. When several applications received only vague rejections, Rev. Sheppard finally traveled to the headquarters and applied in person. Prejudices died hard in the former Confederacy, and this was evident by their initial refusal and final acceptance. He could go to the Congo as a foreign missionary, but only if a white missionary would supervise him. To his surprise, a young white minister by the name of Samuel Lapsley, volunteered to go with him in that position. They sailed to the Congo on February 25, 1890. Despite what the mission board stated at home, these two missionaries soon were treating each other as equals. Arriving at what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they set about founding a mission in a village known as Luebo. Despite contracting malaria numerous times, Shepherd managed to adapt to the African climate and setting far better than did Lapsley, who died of a fever after only two years on the field, in 1892.
> 
> Of Lapsley’s death, Rev. Shepherd wrote,
> 
> ...




Any other info that you would point me to as I research?


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## Pergamum (Sep 27, 2013)

Also, here is additional info:

John G. Turner, A 'Black-White' Missionary on the Imperial Stage


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