Joseph Henry Artope

Born in 1863 in Augusta, Georgia, Artope was the son of a Methodist minister. After his father’s death, he worked as a young boy in a blacksmith’s shop to help support his family. Artope attended Payne Institute in Augusta and was a teacher. From there, he went to Wilberforce University, where he studied ministry and also served as a teaching assistant in pastoral theology and as the manager for a student singing group who traveled to raise funds.

In 1889, Artope received his bachelor of divinity degree from Wilberforce University. He then went to Yale Divinity School, where he graduated in 1892. He married Bertie Clinton of Zanesville, Ohio, with whom he had one son. After graduation, Artope briefly served as pastor of an AME church in Wheeling, West Virginia, before moving to Brown Chapel in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati. After two years there, he was sent to a church in Chillicothe, Ohio. Artope died in 1896 at the age of 33 from malaria.