John Wesley Edward Bowen (1855-1933) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to Rosa Bowen and Edward Bowen, an enslaved entrepreneur who purchased his family’s freedom. Bowen attended Union Normal School in New Orleans. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Orleans (UNO), a school established by the Methodist Episcopal Church to educate freed slaves, and graduated in 1878 with the institution’s first graduating class. After graduating from UNO, Bowen served as a professor of ancient languages at Central Tennessee College (later Walden University) in Nashville, Tennessee from 1878-1882. In 1881, he served as a deacon in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Bowen then decided to attend Boston University to complete his bachelor’s degree in sacred theology in 1885.

In 1886, Bowen married Ariel Serena Hedges (1863-1904), who later served as a professor of music at Clark College, in Atlanta, Georgia (later Clark Atlanta University). That same year, he returned to New Orleans to obtain his master’s degree and then returned to Boston University for his doctorate degree in historical theology. Together the couple had four children, three girls: Irene T. Bowen (1888-1955), Juanita Bowen Dix (1891-1955), and Portia Edmonia Bowen (1894-1900); and one son, John Wesley Edward, Jr. (1889-1962). Bowen graduated in 1887 and became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Boston University and the second African American to earn a Ph.D. in the nation.

Bowen pastored at several churches, authored and edited publications, and gave sermons around the world until 1893. In 1893, Bowen moved to Atlanta to serve as the chair of historical theology at Gammon Theological Seminary, and thus began his 39-year tenure at the institution. Two years after Ariel’s death, Bowen married Irene Smallwood (1861-1954) of Calhoun, Alabama. On October 12, 1906, Bowen became the first African American president of the institution, serving for four years. Following his presidency, he served as vice-president until his retirement in 1932. As an author and editor, Bowen edited The Voice of the Negro, a literary journal targeting an African American audience, which was published from 1904-1907. He authored a number of publications, including National Sermons, Negro Bishops, Africa and the American Negro, The United Negro, and pamphlets, The Psychological Principle of Revelation, Teacher Training vs. Book Training, and others.

John Wesley Edward Bowen died in Atlanta at the age of 77 on July 20, 1933.