The African Methodist Episcopal Church was a radically distinct Protestant denomination that became an advocate for the cause of abolition and a bulwark of the African American community and set a precedent for future African American churches of other denominations.
On April 9, 1816, sixteen African Methodist delegates met in Philadelphia to unite as the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Most of these delegates had gained their spiritual leadership skills through self-study and life struggles. From Philadelphia and Attleborough, Pennsylvania, delegates joined representatives from Baltimore, Wilmington, and Salem to elect a bishop.
Accounts vary as to what happened next. Some reports indicate that the Reverend Daniel Coker
Philadelphia provided a receptive haven for African American leaders. Before the American Revolution (1775-1783)
Richard Allen, who has become known as the founder of African American Protestantism, was born a slave in 1760 in Philadelphia. Sold to the Stokeley plantation near Dover, Delaware,
Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church through 1876.
Allen worked at many jobs and preached at his regular stops, developing broad contacts through his travels. As an aide to other itinerant preachers, he met Bishop Francis Asbury, who established the first General Conference of the Methodist Church in America in 1784. When Asbury
Because the church was one of the only legal meeting places for African Americans, religion became a major focus of African American life. Allen joined such Philadelphia leaders as former slave clerk and handyman Absalom Jones, and other members of the St. Thomas vestry: James Forten
The humiliation of this incident led to a mass exodus of African Americans from the church and a movement to create a separate church as an organized act of self-determination. In the spring, the African American leaders established the Free African Society
The leaders differed over the issue of church affiliation, with the majority voting to unite with the Episcopal Church
Jones and Allen favored Methodism, but only Allen withdrew from the Free African Society
Such church independence helped African Americans resist the insults and subordination resulting from slavery and racial prejudice and reflected a growing role of the church in the black community. Sermons in the church underscored the need for the African American community to become self-reliant through the church, schools, and economic organizations in order to gain group solidarity and recognition. Christian character, in turn, depended upon Christian education. In the summer of 1795, Bethel cooperated with the Society for the Improving of the Condition of the Free Blacks by arranging for the arrival, temporary housing, and placement for newly emancipated slaves.
Church trustees petitioned the African school for free instruction. Bethel not only established the first Sunday school for African Americans but also set a precedent with the 1795 opening of the first day school established by African Americans for their children. The day school was soon followed by a night school for working people. In 1798, Allen and Jones gained permission from Prince Hall of Boston to set up the Second African (Masonic) Lodge in Philadelphia. Because music
As increasing numbers of women experienced religious conversions and entered preaching, Allen supported their spiritual growth by allowing an Englishwoman, Dorothy Ripley, to speak to his congregation in 1803. In 1804, he established the Society of Free People of Color for Promoting the Instruction and School Education of Children of African Descent. In 1809, he helped James Forten
After the African Methodist Episcopal Church was established in 1816, the movement spread to other cities and along the seaboard states. Church leaders continued their pioneering efforts for group solidarity. In January, 1817, the First Negro Convention
In later years, the church continued to improve the conditions for African Americans. It supported the use of boycotts
-
Allen, Richard. “Letters of Richard Allen and Absalom Jones.” Journal of Negro History 1, no. 4 (October, 1916): 436-443. The common concerns of the two leaders are expressed in their correspondence. -
________. The Life, Experience, and Gospel Labors of the Right Reverend Richard Allen. 1833. Reprint. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1983. Presents an accounting of Allen’s religious life. -
Angell, Stephen W., and Anthony B. Pinn, eds. Social Protest Thought in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1862-1939. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2000. Study of the role of the AME Church during the Civil War and and its aftermath. -
Dodson, Jualynne E. Engendering Church: Women, Power, and the AME Church. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002. Exploration of the important role of women in the African Methodist Episcopal Church; includes a history of the church. -
Dvorak, Katharine L. An African American Exodus. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Carlson, 1991. Provides the history and theology of the nineteenth century African Methodist Episcopal Church. -
George, Carol V. R. Segregated Sabbaths: Richard Allen and the Rise of Independent Black Churches, 1760-1840. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973. A standard account of the development of the independent churches. -
Mwadilitu, Mwalimu I. [E. Curtis Alexander]. Richard Allen: The First Exemplar of African American Education. New York: ECA Associates, 1985. Examines Allen’s educational leadership through the church. -
Nash, Gary. “New Light on Richard Allen: The Early Years of Freedom.” William and Mary Quarterly 46 (April, 1989): 332-340. Consideration of Allen’s role in early national history by a leading authority on early American race relations. -
Rasmussen, R. Kent. Farewell to Jim Crow: The Rise and Fall of Segregation in America. New York: Facts On File, 1997. Written for young adults, this history of segregation in the United States discusses the founding of the AME Church in the wider context of African American responses to segregation and points up the importance of churches in African American history. -
Wesley, Charles. Richard Allen: Apostle of Freedom. Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishers, 1935. The standard biography of Allen.
Ohio Enacts the First Black Codes
American Anti-Slavery Society Is Founded
Finney Lectures on “Revivals of Religion”
National Council of Colored People Is Founded
Paul Cuffe.