Biography Category
Name :
Richard Allen
Date :
Views :
388
Category :
Birth Date :
19/04/1760
Birth Place :
Philadelphia
Death Date :
-
Following becoming free, Richard Allen spent the next six years preaching Methodism. He traveled and preached in Pennsylvania, Delaware, South Carolina and several other states. He would support himself during his preaching by practicing the art of shoemaking, driving wagons or woodcutting.[br /]
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Born a slave in 1760 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Richard Allen was the property of Benjamin Chew, a well-known attorney as well as a Chief Justice of the Commonwealth in the years 1774 to 1777. When Richard was still a young child he was sold, along with his parents and siblings, to a planter from Delaware, Stokeley Sturgis. Later, stemming from financial difficulties, Sturgis had to sell Allen's mother and three of his five siblings.[br /]
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At the age of 17, Richard was converted to Methodism by a traveling white preacher by the name of Freeborn Garretson. Richard and his brothers began attending religious classes every week until certain whites in the area complained. Richard and his brothers decided to not risk losing what good will they had enjoyed from their master, so they ceased attending these religious meetings. Stokeley Sturgis saw that religion had made better slaves out of these young men. He, therefore, invited preachers to come to his home to share their messages. Freeborn Garretson came teaching the ills of slavery and found Stokeley Sturgis receptive.[br /]
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In January 1780, Sturgis became a convert to Methodism and told Richard that if he could earn $2,000 then he would set him free. So Richard did just that. He spent five years working as a woodcutter and a wagoner for the Revolutionary army and saved enough to purchase his freedom along with the freedom of one of his brothers. It was following this event that Richard took the last name of Allen for himself. Having a last name gave one the status of being a free man.[br /]
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At the age of 17, Richard was converted to Methodism by a traveling white preacher by the name of Freeborn Garretson. Richard and his brothers began attending religious classes every week until certain whites in the area complained. Richard and his brothers decided to not risk losing what good will they had enjoyed from their master, so they ceased attending these religious meetings. Stokeley Sturgis saw that religion had made better slaves out of these young men. He, therefore, invited preachers to come to his home to share their messages. Freeborn Garretson came teaching the ills of slavery and found Stokeley Sturgis receptive.[br /]
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In January 1780, Sturgis became a convert to Methodism and told Richard that if he could earn $2,000 then he would set him free. So Richard did just that. He spent five years working as a woodcutter and a wagoner for the Revolutionary army and saved enough to purchase his freedom along with the freedom of one of his brothers. It was following this event that Richard took the last name of Allen for himself. Having a last name gave one the status of being a free man.[br /]
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While preaching in Philadelphia, Allen was asked to serve as assistant minister to church members at St. George's Methodist Church. He had to deliver his sermon at five o'clock in the morning to black church goers so as to avoid getting in the way of the later white member services. The number of black members soon grew and it became apparent that the black Methodist congregation needed a place of worship of their own. This need was not just based on the size of the congregation. The need to form a separate church was also advanced by bigotry from the white members of St. George's Methodist Church.[br /]
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The Bethel Methodist congregation grew swiftly. In 1795 the membership was 121; ten years later the membership was 457; in 1813 the membership had increased to 1,272. In 1799, because of his preaching influence, Richard Allen was made the first black deacon in the Methodist church.[br /]
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Some changes had begun to occur in Methodism at this time. The white Methodist ministers were backing away from their preaching of antislavery principle. The white portion of the Methodist church also began to make attempts to gain control over the black Methodist congregations. In 1816 four other Methodist churches met at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. They organized the African Methodist Episcopal church, or A.M.E. On April 11, 1816 Richard Allen became the first bishop of the church. The church was the first truly independent black church in America.[br /]
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[b]Richard Allen[/b] lived as a free man in a nation where slavery was an accepted normal aspect of the society and economy. He lived a life dedicated to promoting Methodism and in creating a church where African Americans could worship.[br /]
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Some changes had begun to occur in Methodism at this time. The white Methodist ministers were backing away from their preaching of antislavery principle. The white portion of the Methodist church also began to make attempts to gain control over the black Methodist congregations. In 1816 four other Methodist churches met at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. They organized the African Methodist Episcopal church, or A.M.E. On April 11, 1816 Richard Allen became the first bishop of the church. The church was the first truly independent black church in America.[br /]
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[b]Richard Allen[/b] lived as a free man in a nation where slavery was an accepted normal aspect of the society and economy. He lived a life dedicated to promoting Methodism and in creating a church where African Americans could worship.[br /]
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Allen and ten fellow members split from this group and formed the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in July of 1794. Allen had decided that this church was to be racially segregated from whites. There were two lines of reason in making this decision. [br /]
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First was the problem of racism. White Methodists favored the dissolution of slavery yet that did not translate into black equality. Blacks in the Methodist faith were denied religious rites such as worshiping along side white church-goers. Black members could not be interred in the St. George Methodist cemetery, as well. Secondly, Richard Allen believed and promoted the idea that African Americans should have power over their religious lives.
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First was the problem of racism. White Methodists favored the dissolution of slavery yet that did not translate into black equality. Blacks in the Methodist faith were denied religious rites such as worshiping along side white church-goers. Black members could not be interred in the St. George Methodist cemetery, as well. Secondly, Richard Allen believed and promoted the idea that African Americans should have power over their religious lives.
In 1787 the black members left St. George's when Reverend Absalom Jones, Richard Allen and other worshipers knelt in prayer at the front of the church and were asked to get up and move to the back of the church by white church officials. A non-denominational aid society, The Free African Religious Society, was formed in 1787 to offer fellowship and aid, as well as act as a money-gathering organization to build a church for the black church members. Richard Allen joined with the Reverend Absalom Jones in forming this aid group. In 1789 the Free African Religious Society began adopting certain aspects of the Quaker religion. For this reason, Richard Allen left the group to form his own purely Methodist church.[br /]
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