Born: December 24, 1848, Fredericktown, Maryland.
Died: June 25, 1924, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Buried: Merion Memorial Park, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
Levi was the son of John Coppin and Jane Lily. He married three times: Hs second wife was to Fanny Jackson (married 1881) and his third wife was physician Melissa Evelyn Thompson (married 1914).
His mother, a free black, taught him to read and write, which was illegal at the time. After the American civil war, his mother became the first teacher at a school for black children established in Fredericktown. Levi eventually taught there, too.
In 1865, Levi joined the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. He was licensed to preach in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1876, and joined the AME Philadelphia Conference in 1877.
Until 1900 Coppin served AME churches in Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, and for eight years he edited the AME Church Review.
In 1900, he was elected an AME bishop, and 1902 he and his wife Fanny went to South Africa on mission work. After returning to America, he served as a bishop in South Carolina and Alabama.