Although Samuel David Ferguson was not the first black person to be elected a bishop of the Episcopal Church, he was the first African-American seated in the the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops. (Bishop James Theodore Holly was the first black Episcopal Bishop consecrated November 8, 1874, as first Bishop of Haiti; Bishop Holly was the first black bishop to attend an Anglican Lambeth Conference.)
Ferguson was born on January 1, 1842, at Charleston, South Carolina. Ferguson moved with his family to Liberia at age six. He was ordained a deacon on December 28, 1865 and a priest on March 15, 1868. He was consecrated as bishop on June 24, 1885 (Saint John the Baptist’s Feast Day), at Grace Church, New York, becoming the first black member of the House of Bishops. He married Mary Leonora Montgomery.
As Missionary Bishop of Liberia, he founded what is now Cuttington University College. He also established the Bromley Mission School. He remained in Liberia until his death in Monrovia on August 2, 1916.
(From Wikipedia and other sources)