Revs-Richard-Allen-and-Absolom-Jones-331kb

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  • March 26, 2015

Bishop Richard Allen (1760-1831), African Methodist Episcopal Church Founder.

In 1787, two Methodist preachers, Richard Allen, at left, and Absalom Jones (1746-1818), at right, opposed to having blacks segregated to the upper galleries during worship, walked out along with their black congregants during Sunday service in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

They next founded the Free African Society, a nondenominational mutual aid group to assist free blacks become self-sustaining and assume leadership roles within the larger Black Community.

In 1794, they co-founded an Episcopal Church, but many parishioners, including Richard Allen, decided to break away to form the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. In 1799, Allen was ordained the first black Methodist minister, and in 1816 became the first bishop of A.M.E., which continues to be the world’s largest independent black denomination.

Absalom Jones was himself ordained in 1804, becoming the first African American Episcopalian priest.

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