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Seymour developed a belief in glossolalia ("speaking in tounges") as a confirmation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. As a consequence of teaching this, he was removed from the Los Angeles parish where he had formerly ministered. Looking for a place to continue his work, he found a run-down building in downtown Los Angeles located on Azusa Street, and preached his doctrinal beliefs there.

The result was the Azusa Street Revival. Seymour not only rejected the existing racial barriers in favor of "unity in Christ", he also rejected the then almost-universal barriers to women in any form of church leadership. This revival meeting extended from 1906 until 1909, and became the subject of intense investigation by more mainstream Protestants. Some left feeling that Seymour's views were heresyHeresy according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a "theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary, to the ‘catholic’ or orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church, or, by extension, to that of any church, while others accepted his teachings and returned to their own congregations to expound them. The resulting movement became widely known as "Pentecostalism", likening it to the mainfestations of the Holy Spirit recorded as occurring in the first two chapters of Acts as occurring from ten days prior to the Feast of PentecostPentecost is a holiday of Christianity, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter, and ten days after the Ascension. It is also known in English as Whitsun (Whitsunday) up to that day.

Most of the current charismaticFor a description of the personality trait, see Charismatic authority Charismatic is an umbrella term used to describe those Christians who believe that the manifestations of the Holy Spirit seen in the first century Christian Church, such as glossolalia groups can claim some lineage linking them to the Azusa Street Revival and William Seymour. While the movement was largely to fracture along racial lines within a decade, the splits were in some ways perhaps less deep that the vast divide that seems often to divide many whiteCaucasian is originally a geographical term, meaning relative or pertaining to the Caucasus region of eastern Europe. It has in time acquired other specific meanings: in linguistics, the Caucasian languages are a large number of languages spoken in the Ca religious denominationA religious denomination (also: denomination is a large, long-established subgroup within a religion that has been in existence for many years. The term is frequently used to describe the different Christian churches ( Orthodox, Catholic and the many varis from their black counterparts. Probably the deepest split in the Pentecostal movement today is not racial, but rather between Trinitarian and " Jesus Only" theologies.

While there had been similar manifestations in the past (the Cane Ridge, Kentucky revival a century before in the Second Great Awakening being one such example), the current worldwide Pentecostal and charismatic movements are generally agreed to have been outgrowths of Seymour's ministry and the Azusa Street Revival. A play commemorating Seymour and the revival, Miracle on Azusa Street, is sometimes produced by Pentecostal churches both to teach their own members about their religious origins and as an outreach to those outside.