Richard Allen’s Childhood
Richard Allen was born a slave in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to the estate of a prominent lawyer. Not long after, Allen and his family were sold to Stokeley Sturgis, a Delaware planter. While a slave, Allen became a Methodist, and began preaching to the unconverted, including to his owner. Eventually Sturgis was influenced by the Methodists teaching that slave ownership was wrong, and thus, he allowed Allen to buy his freedom.
Richard Allen Becomes a Minister
As a free man, Allen traveled throughout South Carolina, New York, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania working odd jobs to support himself while at the same time preaching in Methodist churches. While in Philadelphia, he accepted a position as the Methodist preacher for the black parishioners at St. George’s Methodist Church.
Creating the First Black Denomination
In 1787, Allen joined with Absalom Jones to create the Free African Society, a non-denominational aid society. When the organization built a church and offered Allen the position of pastor of the St. Thomas African Episcopal Church, he rejected it and formed his own church for black Methodist parishioners; in 1794, Allen founded Bethel African Methodist Church. Although his church enjoyed constant growth, over time the Methodist organization became more controlling over black congregations. In response, in 1816 several black Methodist churches came together to form the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first black denomination. Allen served as the Church’s first bishop until his death in 1831.
