Richard Allen (bishop)
Richard Allen (February 14, 1760 – March 26, 1831)[1] was a minister, educator, writer, and one of America's most active and influential Black leaders. In 1794, he founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the first independent Black denomination in the United States. He opened his first AME church in 1794 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a Black religious leader, founder, and first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.[2]
History
Allen was born a slave in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Richard Allen grew up during the American Revolution; an era characterized by the advocacy of individual rights, the growth of denominational Christianity, and the inception of the antislavery movement. Around 1768, Allen's owner, a Philadelphia lawyer named Benjamin Chew, sold him, his three siblings, and his parents to Stokely Sturgis, a plantation owner in Delaware. With the permission of Sturgis, Allen began to attend Methodist meetings, and around 1777 he was converted to Methodism.[3]
As he was converted at age 17, he began preaching on his plantation and at local Methodist churches, preaching whenever he had the chance. "Sometimes, I would awake from my sleep preaching and praying," he later recalled.[4] In addition to doing manual labor, Allen began to preach at Methodist churches in Delaware and neighboring states.[3] His owner, one of Allen's early converts, was so impressed with him that he allowed Allen to purchase his freedom.[4] He eventually took the surname "Allen" to signify his free status.[5]
The same year Allen freed himself, in 1786, he was accepted an invitation to preach at St. George's Church in Philadelphia, a mixed-race congregation of Methodists.[3] While preaching in a town near Philadelphia, Allen was asked by the Methodist elder to preach to the black congregants at St. George's Methodist Church. Allen agreed, though he was required to preach at a 5:00 a.m. so that his services would not interfere with the whites'. He also preached on the commons in areas of the city where black families lived, often preaching as many as four or five times a day. In this way, he raised a society of 42 members, while he supported himself as a shoemaker.[5] His leadership at prayer services attracted dozens of blacks into the church, and with them came increased racial tension.[4]
Contribution
As the St. George's Black membership dramatically increased the building could no longer accommodate the growing congregation. White elders at St. George rejected Allen's request for a separate place of worship for African American members and chose instead to construct separated seating within the church by installing a balcony.[3] Segregated seating was typical; the area reserved for blacks was usually called the "Negro Pew" or the "African Corner. White leaders required black parishioners to use the chairs around the walls rather than the pews."[4]
The white elder of the church, when this plan was explained to him, "used very degrading and insulting language to us, to try and prevent us from going on. We all belonged to St. George's church.... We felt ourselves much cramped; but my dear Lord was with us, and we believed, if it was his will, the work would go on, and that we would be able to succeed in building the house of the Lord."[5]
During one service in 1787, a group of blacks sat in some new pews that, unbeknownst to them, had been reserved for whites. As these blacks knelt in prayer, a white trustee came over and grabbed Absalom Jones, Allen's associate, and began pulling on him, saying, "You must get up—you must not kneel here." Jones asked him to wait until the prayer was over, but the trustee retorted, "No, you must get up now, or I will call for aid and force you away." But the group finished praying before they got up and walked out.[4]
Allen had for some time thought of establishing an independent black congregation, and this incident pushed him over the edge. In 1787, he decided to form the Free African Society, a non-denominational religious mutual aid society for the black community.[5] He had no desire to leave Methodism or the local Conference: "I was confident," he later wrote, "that there was no religious sect or denomination would suit the capacity of the colored people as well as the Methodist; for the plain and simple gospel suits best for any people." Still he recognized that blacks needed a place they could worship in freedom.[4]
In 1794, Allen purchased an old frame building, formerly a blacksmith's shop, and created the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishop Francis Asbury dedicated the building and, in 1799, ordained Allen as a deacon.[4] After Bethel was officially initiated at the 1796 Methodist conference, white Methodist officials attempted to gain control over Allen's church, but a Pennsylvania Supreme court ruling in 1807 declared that the Black Methodist congregation owned the property on which they worshipped and that they could determine who would preach there. Following Allen's example, many Black Methodists formed African Methodist Churches in northeastern cities. Because all experienced similar challenges from white Methodists, Allen organized a convention of Black Methodists in 1816 to address their shared problems. The leaders decided to unite their churches under the name of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Accordingly, they gained control over the governance of their churches and placed themselves beyond white ecclesiastical jurisdiction.[3] Allen has ordained an elder and then consecrated as bishop—the first black to hold such an office in America.[4]
Although the AME Church initiated missionary efforts in such countries as Haiti and Canada during the late 1820s, Allen kept the church focused on elevating Black Americans, especially those in the South.[3]
Allen's African Methodist Episcopal Church had a major impact on Ohio. During the 1800s, many African Americans in Ohio found comfort and religious fulfillment in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Most of the churches of this denomination were built in Ohio's major cities. White Methodists established Wilberforce College in Ohio in 1856. During the 1860s, the African Methodist Episcopal Church acquired Wilberforce and opened its doors to African Americans. It was the first institution of higher education in the United States established specifically for African American students.[6]
References
- ↑ Bowden, Henry Warner (1993). Dictionary of American religious biography (2nd ed.). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. pp. 15–16. ISBN 0-313-27825-3
- ↑ "Richard Allen, Bishop, AME's first leader". Retrieved January 2, 2016.
- ↑ Jump up to: 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Richard Allen, Bishop, AME’s first leader. An Encyclopedia of African American Christian Heritage. Retrieved Jan 20, 2021.
- ↑ Jump up to: 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Richard Allen: Founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. christianitytoday.com. Retrieved Jan 20, 2021.
- ↑ Jump up to: 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Richard Allen 1760 - 1831. pbs.org. Retrieved Jan 20, 2021.
- ↑ Richard Allen. ohiohistorycentral.com. Retrieved Jan 20, 2021.