TURNER, HENRY MCNEAL. Henry McNeal Turner (1834–1915) was the twelfth bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and the U. S. Army's first African American chaplain. He studied history, theology, law, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and German and received an LL.D from the University of Pennsylvania in 1872. Turner also served as vice president of the African Colonization Society (1877) and was a major spokesperson for the Back-to-Africa movement. The movement was an African American led effort that advocated their emigration to Africa. Most black leaders had been opposed to such schemes since the option was first pursued in 1816 with the formation of the American Colonization Society by whites. However, emigration became a viable option for some blacks in the 1880s, when many black leaders were becoming increasingly disillusioned about the prospects of achieving equal rights in America. Matters became especially bleak in 1883 when the United...