Others heard Parham teach on the gift of tongues and joined his cause. One of these, a black holiness preacher named William J. Seymour, held a series of meetings in Azusa Street in Los Angeles from 1906 to 1909. The fame of Azusa Street gave momentum to the young movement. Pentecostals claim that, as at Pentecost, the sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is to speak in tongues. From these beginnings the movement blossomed.
Today there are many Pentecostal bodies.
As the contribution of William Seymour suggests, there has been a large African-American contribution to Pentecostalism. An example is the Church of God in Christ, founded by C. H. Mason, who joined the Pentecostal movement after visiting Seymour s Azusa Street meeting. It has become the most important predominantly black Pentecostal group and one of the largest and fastest-growing Pentecostal denominations. By Mark Sidwell.