Richard Allen
It is now time for a moment in Black History.
Minister, Educator, Writer our great Founder Richard Allen was born into slavery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 14, 1760. He and his family were later was sold to a Delaware Farmer in 1767. At the age of 17, Allen converted to Methodism after hearing a white itinerant preacher rail against slavery. His master, who had also converted agreed to let Richard and his brother buy their freedom for $2,000 each.
After attaining his freedom in 1783, Richard took the last name Allen and moved back to his hometown Philadelphia.
In 1787, former slaves Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, and other free black men, established the Free African Society (FAS), which was an independent, mutual aid organization formed in Philadelphia to provide assistance for the economic, educational, social, and spiritual needs of the African community. Membership in the Society required adherence to strict rules clearly outlined in the Society’s Preamble, which stated the mission of the non-denominational society, “to support one another in sickness, and for the benefit of their widows and fatherless children.” Monthly dues were paid by each member for the benefit of those in need. With this commitment to its members and the black community, the Free African Society set the foundation for one of the first black churches in America.
Allen eventually became a member of St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church, where blacks and whites worshiped together. There, he became an assistant minister and conducted prayer meetings for Negros. One Sunday Morning in 1787, while Richard Allen, Absalom Jones and a number of other African Americans kneeled for prayer, church leaders made attempt and to pull them off their knees and move them to a segregated part of the church. Outraged by the disrespect not only for the Negro people but also of their prayer time with God, Allen requested that the church officers simply wait until they’re prayers were
Minister, Educator, Writer our great Founder Richard Allen was born into slavery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 14, 1760. He and his family were later was sold to a Delaware Farmer in 1767. At the age of 17, Allen converted to Methodism after hearing a white itinerant preacher rail against slavery. His master, who had also converted agreed to let Richard and his brother buy their freedom for $2,000 each.
After attaining his freedom in 1783, Richard took the last name Allen and moved back to his hometown Philadelphia.
In 1787, former slaves Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, and other free black men, established the Free African Society (FAS), which was an independent, mutual aid organization formed in Philadelphia to provide assistance for the economic, educational, social, and spiritual needs of the African community. Membership in the Society required adherence to strict rules clearly outlined in the Society’s Preamble, which stated the mission of the non-denominational society, “to support one another in sickness, and for the benefit of their widows and fatherless children.” Monthly dues were paid by each member for the benefit of those in need. With this commitment to its members and the black community, the Free African Society set the foundation for one of the first black churches in America.
Allen eventually became a member of St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church, where blacks and whites worshiped together. There, he became an assistant minister and conducted prayer meetings for Negros. One Sunday Morning in 1787, while Richard Allen, Absalom Jones and a number of other African Americans kneeled for prayer, church leaders made attempt and to pull them off their knees and move them to a segregated part of the church. Outraged by the disrespect not only for the Negro people but also of their prayer time with God, Allen requested that the church officers simply wait until they’re prayers were