Alfred Lee Ridgel was a writer and minister of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. He was born in Bradley County, Arkansas, on August 10^th, 1861. He came from a religious family, and when only eighteen years of age he was licensed to preach. Ridgel soon made a name for himself as a powerful and inspiring preacher and an advocate of his race. He preached in various churches in Arkansas throughout his life. In 1890 he began publishing the Forest City Enterprise, a weekly newspaper, in Forest City, Ark. In 1893 he made his first voyage to Africa, and in 1896 published Africa and African Methodism. He married Fannie M. Worthington, a teacher, in 1893.

Courtney Vien