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FLUSHING -- A monument to honor the late Bishop Reverdy Cassius Ransom, a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a dedicated civil rights activist, still stands near his birthplace in Flushing.
The monument that recognizes Ransom and his many accomplishments was unveiled by Ransom himself in August 1950 in Schuler Park.
Ransom was born Jan. 4, 1861, in Flushing to Harriet (Johnson) and George Ransom, according to the AME Church Social Action Commission. At the age of 8, he and his family moved to Cambridge, where he attended public school. At that time, schools in the area remained segregated.
The social action commission states that Ransom's mother did not believe the education for Black students to be equal to that of white students, so she had him tutored by white families that employed her as a domestic servant.
As a young adult he attended Oberlin College for a short time, but after participating in a protest to fight against segregation, he lost his scholarship and transferred to Wilberforce University, where he graduated 1886. Upon his graduation, he became a deacon and eventually a bishop of the AME Church and was involved in numerous causes throughout his lifetime to help the Black community.
Ransom formed programs to help Black men, women and children. When he saw the need for social institutions, he purchased a large church building that he transformed into individual rooms to include a gymnasium, clubs and classrooms for education.
Ransom advocated for civil rights and spoke out against racial inequality and segregation. He was involved in the Niagara Movement and later delivered a speech at the founding meeting of the NAACP, where he advocated for active protest against lynchings and race riots which were prevalent in the early 20th century, according to the AME Church Social Action Commission.
According to the Flushing memorial, Ransom was a minister of the AME Church for 64 years and a bishop of the church for 26 years. He also spent 16 years as the chairman of the board of trustees for Wilberforce University and was an editor of the AME Church Review. He died in 1959.
Ransom died in 1959 after a lifelong journey of helping others.