Daniel Alexander Payne, the founder of Wilberforce University near Xenia, OH, was born in Charleston, SC, on February 24, 1811 to free African American parents. The sixth bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, Payne was a strong abolitionist who participated in the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee and personally helped a number of freedom seekers on their journeys north. With the founding of Wilberforce University in 1856, Payne became the first African American president of a college in the United States and Wilberforce became the first black-owned and operated college in the country. Payne served as its president for 13 years. His stepson, Peter Clark, was active in the Cincinnati area in fighting for African American rights and in developing education for black students. Rev. Daniel Payne passed away in 1893.