Jacobus Capitein

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Jacobus Elisa Johannes Capitein (c. 1717 – 1 February 1747) was a Dutch writer, Calvinist clergyman and missionary best known for being the first individual of African descent to be ordained as a minister in an established Protestant church. Born in Western Africa, Capitein was taken to the Dutch Republic at a young age, where he studied theology and wrote on Christianity and slavery before returning to West Africa and eventually dying in debt. Capitein was born c. 1717 in Elmina, West Africa. At the age of seven or eight, Capitein was sold into slavery and subsequently presented to a Dutch West India Company (WIC) employee named Jacobus van Goch, who took him to the Dutch Republic in 1728. Though he was technically freed by being on Dutch soil, Capitein remained with van Goch when he moved to The Hague, gradually learning to speak Dutch and being tutored in painting. While living in The Hague, Capitein expressed an interest in studying theology, and with the support of van Goch started studying at the Gymnasium Haganum in 1731. In 1737, after his graduation, Capitein won a scholarship to study at Leiden University, joining the university's theology department. Capitein wrote a dissertation in 1742 which defended slavery on Christian grounds and received a positive reception after it was published in text form. After he graduated from Leiden University in 1742, Capitein was ordained as a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church. He soon joined the WIC and was sent as a chaplain to Elmina Castle in Western Africa. However, his efforts to minister to WIC employees in Elmina were unsuccessful, as were Capitein's attempts to convert the local population to Christianity. After marrying an arranged wife in 1745, Capitein died two years later, deeply in debt.