William Wade Harris (West African Prophet & Evangelist) 🌐

William Wadé Harris was a member of the Grebo people of Maryland County, Liberia. Working as a brick mason and coastal sailor, he became involved in political protests against the Americo-Liberian government, leading to his imprisonment in 1910.

The Vision of Archangel Gabriel

While locked in a dark prison cell, Harris experienced an earth-shattering vision of the Archangel Gabriel, who anointed him as a prophet of the living God and instructed him to abandon European trousers, dress in a seamless white gown, and go forth to destroy witchcraft and idolatry across the African continent.

The Great Revival of 1913–1915

Walking barefoot along the coastal lagoons of the Ivory Coast accompanied by singing women playing gourd castanets, Harris preached with fiery apostolic intensity. Village after village brought out their ancient charms, spirit amulets, and fetish statues, burning them in massive public bonfires. In less than two years, he baptized over one hundred thousand people—an unprecedented mass conversion in the annals of African religious history that laid the bedrock for the Harrist Church and modern African Christianity.