William Bird was a prominent member of Virginia City's African American community during the Comstock era. A barber by profession, Bird was active in the mining district—he even staged an unsuccessful run for mayor in 1870.
The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and congregation in Virginia City functioned as one of two congregations organized, administered, and attended by African American residents of the Comstock during the peak years of the 1860s and 1870s.
