SEYMOUR, WILLIAM. William Joseph Seymour (May 2, 1870–September 28, 1922) is regarded as the founder of Pentecostalism, a movement characterized by the experience of what members refer to as "speaking in tongues." This movement has roots in the Holiness and Perfectionist traditions that emerged in Methodism during the mid-nineteenth century.

Seymour was born in Centerville, Louisiana. In 1900 he moved, via Indianapolis, Indiana, to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he came under the influence of the Holiness minister Martin Wells Knapp. Seymour answered the call to ministry after recovering from a bout of smallpox in which he lost vision in his left eye. He was ordained in 1902 and relocated to Houston, Texas, in 1903, where he became the interim pastor of a Holiness church during the absence of the permanent pastor, Lucy Farrow.

In December 1905, Seymour began attending the Bible school Charles F. Parham had opened in Houston, although racial prejudices forced him...