Paul Washington

Paul Washington (1921–2002) was an Episcopal priest and community activist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Biography

Washington was born in Charleston, South Carolina, USA on May 26, 1921. He attended the Avery Institute and subsequently Lincoln University. Washington graduated from the Philadelphia Divinity School of the Episcopal Church. He did his pastoral work at the Church of The Crucifixion at 8th and Bainbridge Streets in South Philadelphia, where he met his future wife Christine.

Immediately after marriage in 1947, Washington and his wife went to Liberia as missionaries. There, Washington served as business manager of Cuttington College during its post-war revival and rebuilding, Cuttington went on to educate many African leaders. For a time Washington was its acting president. The couple returned from Liberia to Philadelphia in 1954 because their son Paul Marc was suffering from repeated malaria attacks. At this time, he was appointed Vicar of St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church in the Elmwood (now Eastwick) section of Philadelphia.