BOYD, Richard Henry

Born in Slavery — Educated in the School of Adversity — Author — Founder of Baptist Publishing House — President of Penny Savings Bank — The Man of Action

The Reverend Richard Henry BOYD, of Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the most interesting personalities on the American continent, if not in the world.  He was born in Knox County, Mississippi, in 1846.  He was denied every opportunity to acquire any education and was regarded as little more than a beast of burden, nevertheless he emerged from a childhood of slavery into a manhood of independence; out of ignorance to the noble sphere of intellectual ambition and achievement.  He was twenty years old before he was allowed to open a book.  Freedom gave Mr. BOYD the opportunity he desired; for it removed this cruel restriction, and he set immediately to work, learning to read and write in a very short time, and this too, without the aid of a teacher.

Mr. BOYD worked at manual labor each day, while he studied each night. This method was kept up until, at the age forty, he decided to enter Bishop College, Marshall, Texas, to prepare himself for the ministry, to which he felt divinely called. He spent only six months at Bishop, when poverty drove him away.  But BOYD’s soul was afire; his mind assimilated the contents of the best books readily.  “Self-improvement” became his motto, and it has made him one of the strong men of the times.

Leaving Bishop College, Mr. BOYD accepted a large pastorate in the State, and while so occupied made it one of the most useful to every phase of denominational work.

Mr. BOYD first came into prominence as a national character when the National Baptist Convention convened in Kansas City, Missouri, in the fall of 1898.  He conceived the idea of having the National Baptist Convention convened in Kansas City, Missouri, in the fall of 1898.  He conceived the idea of having the National Baptist Convention found a publishing house, not only to furnish literature to the several thousand Sunday-schools of the connection, but to give employment to hundreds of worthy young men and women in the various departments of the institution as well as to illustrate the capabilities of the Negro.  The resolution passed amidst a storm of excitement, with Boyd occupying the center of the stage.

Mr. BOYD went to Nashville, surrounded himself with such men as C.H. CLARK and J.P. ROBINSON, and began actively to plan for the largest Negro publishing concern in the world.  When the first literature came out, it was called “Negro Backs”; so called because the plates used in making up the forms were furnished by the Southern Baptist Convention Publishing House.  But BOYD was not to be discouraged.  While others laughed his efforts to scorn, he worked the harder, and God has rewarded his efforts with a plant now valued at $400,000 which employs more than 150 persons.  As corresponding secretary of the National Baptist Publishing Board, Mr. BOYD has rendered greater service to the denomination than any other.  He has given prestige to the Board at home and abroad, and has been the means of bringing about cooperation in missionary work between the Southern and the National Baptist Convention.Through him several business enterprises, aside from the denominational work in which he is engaged, have been formed.  Among them is the Nashville One Cent Savings Bank, of which he is president, and through whose efforts it has become one of the strongest in Nashville.

Mr. BOYD is vice-president of the Negro National Business League and president of a local league.  He is a high Mason and connected with the fraternal order of United Brothers of Friendship and the Immaculates.  Doctor BOYD is author of several books and pamphlets dealing with Sunday school work and methods.  Among them may be mentioned:

• The Teacher’s Class Book (1897)
• Sunday-school Record Book (1897)
• National Baptist Easy Lesson Primer (1898)
• “The Bible As My Mother Taught It to Me” (1898)
• Baptist Catechism and Doctrine (1899)
• The National Baptist Pastor’s Guide (1900)
• Baptist Statistics and Sunday-school Text-book (1902)
• “What Baptists Believe and Practice” (1902)
• National Baptist Hymnal (1903)
• National Baptist Commentary (1904)
• The National Baptist Church Record, published in 1906

In recognition of this ability and piety, his work for the Master and the race, Guadalupe College, Sequin, Texas, conferred upon him the Degree of Doctor of Divinity, and the Agricultural College, Huntsville, Alabama, befittingly gave him the degree of Doctor of Laws.

Doctor BOYD is simplicity personified, being void of all ostentatiousness, and makes no effort at oratory.  He is slow of speech and takes great pains to weigh every word with emphasis on the cardinal points of his address.  He is a man of action and is careful to never disclose his plans until he is ready to put them into execution.  He is a willing listener to every one giving advice, but he is one man who never tells what he is likely to do next.

Doctor BOYD is a friend to young men and has assisted many, both financially and otherwise, in their struggles for an education.

Mr. BOYD has traveled in various parts of the United States, the insular possessions and upon continental Europe, visiting London, England, in 1905, as delegate to the World Baptist Alliance, and while abroad visited many points in France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

Mrs. BOYD has been a constant companion and source of comfort to Dr. BOYD in all his undertakings. Their son, Henry Allen, now assistant manager of the publishing house and prime mover in the Young People’s Congress, is a young man of sober habits, thrift and resourcefulness, capable of doing great good for the people at large.

Source: Bacote, Samuel W. Who’s Who Among the Colored Baptists of the United States. New York: Arno Press, 1913.