This extraordinary sampler was signed by William Levington, an African-American pastor and founder of St. James First African Protestant Episcopal Church in Baltimore. The sampler was stitched in honor of James Bosley, a white lawyer who donated land for the church building in 1825. Samplers associated with male adults are so rare that their numbers are not documented. Almost as rare are samplers marked by African-Americans of either sex. The Reverend Levington could have expressed his gratitude in a number of ways: he could have commissioned a piece of silver or furniture in Bosley’s honor, written a poem, or presented a plaque. William Levington, however, chose to demonstrate his gratitude through the intimate stitches of a sampler.

The sampler’s design features a large woven basket filled with flowers sitting on a plinth that divides the inscription: “Worked by William Levington Rector/ of St. James First African P. E. Church/ in Baltimore and/ Respectfully presented to/ James Bosley Esq. July the 4 1832.”

William Levington was born a free black in New York City and spent his youth in Philadelphia, where he worked in a bookstore operated by the Potter family and became the protégé of Alonzo Potter (1800–65), an Episcopal priest. Levington went with Potter to Albany, NY, and then enrolled in Union College in nearby Schenectady under Potter’s tutelage. While studying for the priesthood, Levington taught in a school for children of color organized on the Lancasterian system. He returned to Philadelphia in 1822 to continue his studies and was ordained a deacon in 1824.