April 18 – Can’t pray with white folk
It didn’t matter that the United States had just been created, that the founding fathers purported all men were created equal. The idea of slavery and that blacks were somehow worth less than whites was such a pervasive lie, it held even in churches.
The Methodist church was one of the first groups to recognize slaves as people, needing to know Jesus. In fact, the Methodist church assigned missionaries to work among slaves and freed men. They taught blacks and brought them up within the church to leadership positions so that they could preach and teach among their brothers.
But, all of this still couldn’t stop inherent bigotry and it came to a head in 1787 in Philadelphia. The blacks had their own section, but one Sunday morning it was unavailable and as they were seated, they managed to get into the wrong section. As people knelt to pray, ushers noticed they were in the wrong place and rushed to move them. Reverend Absalom Jones was grabbed by an usher and told to move. He asked that they wait until prayer was over. They refused to wait. He asked once more for them to wait until prayer was over and he would be glad to move. But, they didn’t. They dragged him and another away.
That Sunday, another black man was in the worship service. Richard Allen, a Methodist preacher was in the gallery and saw everything happen. The blacks all walked away from that service, never to support the church again. The group had given a great amount of money to the church, donating the floor that they were kneeling upon. But, they were finished.
The two men began to have services in a rented location until they were able to buy land and build a church.
Jones left the Methodist Church in 1793, forming the Colored Protestant Episcopal Church, but Allen had grown up as a Methodist and didn’t want to leave. In 1794, he started the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. The white church tried to get control of his church, but he managed to hold onto their independence. He was ordained a deacon in 1799 and in 1816, became an elder, something that no other black man had done.
He finally chose to leave the Methodists and begin a new denomination – the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). He brought several other independent black churches into the denomination and created it with much of the same organization of the Methodist Church.
Richard Allen traveled throughout the country, planting churches and offering a sense of independence to all who had been oppressed by the white church in America.
It didn’t matter that the United States had just been created, that the founding fathers purported all men were created equal. The idea of slavery and that blacks were somehow worth less than whites was such a pervasive lie, it held even in churches.
The Methodist church was one of the first groups to recognize slaves as people, needing to know Jesus. In fact, the Methodist church assigned missionaries to work among slaves and freed men. They taught blacks and brought them up within the church to leadership positions so that they could preach and teach among their brothers.
But, all of this still couldn’t stop inherent bigotry and it came to a head in 1787 in Philadelphia. The blacks had their own section, but one Sunday morning it was unavailable and as they were seated, they managed to get into the wrong section. As people knelt to pray, ushers noticed they were in the wrong place and rushed to move them. Reverend Absalom Jones was grabbed by an usher and told to move. He asked that they wait until prayer was over. They refused to wait. He asked once more for them to wait until prayer was over and he would be glad to move. But, they didn’t. They dragged him and another away.
That Sunday, another black man was in the worship service. Richard Allen, a Methodist preacher was in the gallery and saw everything happen. The blacks all walked away from that service, never to support the church again. The group had given a great amount of money to the church, donating the floor that they were kneeling upon. But, they were finished.
The two men began to have services in a rented location until they were able to buy land and build a church.
Jones left the Methodist Church in 1793, forming the Colored Protestant Episcopal Church, but Allen had grown up as a Methodist and didn’t want to leave. In 1794, he started the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. The white church tried to get control of his church, but he managed to hold onto their independence. He was ordained a deacon in 1799 and in 1816, became an elder, something that no other black man had done.
He finally chose to leave the Methodists and begin a new denomination – the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). He brought several other independent black churches into the denomination and created it with much of the same organization of the Methodist Church.
Richard Allen traveled throughout the country, planting churches and offering a sense of independence to all who had been oppressed by the white church in America.
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