Black Methodism
Beginnings
Challenges
Changes
African Methodist Episcopal
Church
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The African Methodist Episcopal Church
was started in 1787 in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, by a group of disinherited
Americans whose forefathers came from
Africa. The leader of this group was a 27
year old "African," Richard Allen. At that
time the word "African" was used to
designate those persons whom we now
call African American.
Five Characteristics of Black
Church Experience
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Black controlled
Involved in the everyday life of the people
Provide members with a sense of
worthiness and identity
Emphasize evangelism with direct witness
to saving love of Jesus Christ
Adaptive to changing conditions of society
while challenging oppressive forces
Early Methodism Response to
Black Americans
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Offered emotionalism and religious
enthusiasm (Revivalism)
Lagged behind Baptists in obtaining black
congregations
Revivalism offered escape from intolerable
economic and social conditions
Remember Betty?
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Black “girl” in Philip Embury’s Class at the
John Street Methodist Society in New
York, 1766.
Several Northern societies integrated early
Southern societies begin practicing
segregation and racial selection early
Asbury concerned about racial segregation
but knew no way to affect change
Early Black Methodism
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Whatcoat’s journals record increased
incidences of segregation, especially
concerning the sacrament of Holy Supper.
Asbury and Whatcoat “adjust” to the
growing white desire for segregated
worship
General Conference 1800 allows for the
ordination of black preachers as deacons
Elder ordination not until 1812
Early Black Methodism
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Harry Hosier (1750-1806)
was born a slave in North
Carolina. Following the
Revolutionary War he
gained his freedom from
his Maryland master, and
was converted to
Methodism. His sermon,
"The Barren Fig Tree,"
preached at Adam's
Chapel, Fairfax County,
Virginia, in May of 1781,
was the first recorded
Methodist sermon by an
African-American.
Early Black Methodism
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Hosier became famous as a traveling
evangelist up and down the Atlantic
seaboard. He was a companion on
evangelistic trips with Asbury, Coke, Jesse
Lee, and Freeborn Garrettson, and was
heralded as one of the greatest preachers
of his time. His influence was one of the
most important factors in the early spread
of the Methodist Episcopal Church in
America.
Early Black Methodism
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Mother African Zoar Church began in 1792,
when a group of African Americans withdrew
from Old St. George's Church to protest
discrimination there. The dissident group, calling
itself "African Zoar" (HE: “good will”) was
recognized by St. George's in 1794 and grew to
become the mother church of several local
Methodist congregations, including Tindley
Temple, Raven Memorial, Mount Zion, and St.
Thomas.
Pattern of Black Denomination
Formation
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Integration with White congregation
Experience of Segregation
Separate Meeting Times established
Separate Meeting Places established
Blacks found independent church
Independent churches fashion a
denomination
Early Black Methodism
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Richard Allen (1760-1831), the
founder of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church
was born a slave in
Philadelphia. After purchasing
his own freedom as a young
man, he joined St. George's
Methodist Church, from which
in 1787 he led a dramatic
withdrawal of black
members. Allen soon became
pastor of the group and was
ordained as a deacon by
Bishop Asbury. When the
African Methodist Episcopal
Church was organized
nationally in 1816, Allen was
consecrated its first Bishop.
Richard Allen
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Licensed to preach - 1784
Ordained Deacon by Asbury – 1784
Stages “Walkout” of St. George Church 1787
Organizes Free African Society – 1784
Mother Bethel Church started - 1784
FREE AFRICAN SOCIETY
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Allen, along with Absalom Jones, came together
to form the Free African Society (FAS) on April
12, 1787. The Society, though not religiously
affiliated, proved much like a church in serving
the black community. NAACP founder, W.E.B.
DuBois, writing a century later, called the FAS,
"the first wavering step of a people toward
organized social life." Organized as an altruistic
society for extending mutual aid to the widowed,
sick, and jobless, it was funded by dues-paying
members.
Mother Bethel Church
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Allen received permission
from St. George Church
to build a church on the
site where he purchased
the land for St. Thomas's
years earlier. Allen bought
a blacksmith shop and
had it hauled by a team
of his own horses to 6th
and Lombard. Bishop
Asbury presided over the
church's dedication on
July 29, 1794.
Mother Bethel Church
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But tensions develop over who owns the deed to
the church.
Discipline claimed the “church at large” owned
the building
Members of Mother Bethel wanted to own the
property
1796 – Articles of Association of Bethel AME
Church formed.
1830- Convention of Colored Men of U.S. held
there. Bishop Allen presided.
Mother Bethel Church
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Mother Bethel Church was a stop on the
Underground Railroad.
The ground on which Mother Bethel
stands is the oldest parcel of real estate
continuously owned by African-Americans
in the United States.
The first black boy scout troop was
founded at Mother Bethel Church.
Convention of 1816
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African Methodist Church formed
Polity identical to Methodist Episcopal
Exception: no presiding elders
Allen elected first Bishop
Slave owners could not become members
Two Important AME Aspects
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Took a strong stance against
discrimination and segregation; has
always counted whites among its
membership
Work of Richard Allen seen as expression
of Nationalism, the challenging of
economic and political policies detrimental
to Black Americans.
Allen’s Nationalism Movement
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A leader of the free black community in
Philadelphia, Allen also served as one of the
spokesmen for the forces opposed to the
American Colonization Society, an organization
that proposed sending freedmen back to
Africa. His campaign against the colonizationists
resulted in the first meeting of the National
Negro Convention Movement in 1830 -- a loosely
organized group that functioned as a public
platform for black abolitionists and community
leaders.
Freedom’s Journal
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Freedom's Journal, the first African-American
owned and operated newspaper published in the
United States, was published weekly in New York
City from 1827 to 1829. John B. Russworm
edited the journal alone between March 16,
1827 and March 28, 1829. Later, Samuel
Cornish served as co-editor (March 16, 1827 to
September 14, 1827). Richard Allen was a
regular contributor (see web site)
African Methodist Episcopal Zion
Church
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1796 Peter Williams, James Varick,
Christopher Rush and other African Americans of
the John Street Methodist Church, a white
church in New York City, hold separate meetings
in October.
1801, William and others incorporate the Zion
Chapel into the Methodist Episcopal Church
Schism causes division of an “Asbury”
Congregation from the Zion congregation
Peter Williams
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“Peter Williams, Sr., was for a
number of years the sexton of
the John Street Methodist
Church, in which position he
became distinguished among
the white communicants for
his fidelity and piety. He joined
with other Negroes desirous of
independent church action and
established the Zion Church,
out of which emerged the
African Methodist Episcopal
Zion Church”
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From The History of the
Negro Church by Woodson,
Carter Godwin, (1875-1950),
pg. 95
African Methodist Episcopal Zion
Church
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1820 Rev. William Stillwell leads a
congregationalist schism from New York
Methodism. Zion Chapel goes with
Stillwell for a while.
“Asbury” congregation and Zion Chapel
reunite in 1821 to form the African
Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in
American.
Several elders ordained following year.
African Methodist Episcopal Zion
Church
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1820 Zion and Asbury hold organizational
meeting to form own denomination, October
1821 Zion, Asbury and four other congregations
hold conference in New York City to establish a
new organization separate from Richard Allen's
Methodists, June 21
1822 Zion pastor, James Varick elected first
bishop of denomination
1824 New group officially breaks ties with the
white Methodist denomination
1828 First General Conference of the A.M.E Zion
Church held
Peter Spencer
(1782-1843)
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Peter Spencer was born a
slave in Kent County,
Maryland. When freed, he
moved to Wilmington. He
was soon an active in
community and in his
church, Asbury Methodist
Episcopal Church. In
protest against the
church's racial
discrimination Spencer
led almost forty members
out of Asbury to form
Ezion M.E. Church.
African Union Church
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Eight years later, in 1813, still frustrated by the
Methodist Episcopal church's discrimination, the
Spencer and William Anderson led another
group away from the church. They founded an
independent church, the Union Church of African
Members, the first African American controlled
church in America. Spencer served as pastor
and elder minister until his death. The Union
Church spread quickly to include congregations
in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and New
York.
African Union Church
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Methodist Episcopol in polity with one
exception: congregations appointed own
pastors.
Bishops called Presidents
Forms the African Union First Colored
Methodist Protestant Church of the United
States of America and Elsewhere (1865)