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An Historical Note
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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 years old
"African," Richard Allen. At that time the word "African" was
used to designate those persons whom we now call African American.
The movement to organize a church separated from the white peoples'
church was started in response to the "Africans" need for opportunities
for self-expression and fuller involvement in the service of
the worship of God, and in society as a whole. It was the answer
to a cry for social recognition as human beings, and the means
through which a group of people started on a program which gave
them a growing sense of dignity and self-respect.
To foster this program Richard Allen considered it important
to conduct night school classes in which his people could learn
how to help themselves. Out of these night school classes has
come the church's philosophy of education with its strong emphasis
upon self-help. The general emphasis has not been significantly
changed until this day. In addition to the educational program
of the local church, the A.M.E. Church operates eleven institutions
of higher education.
Most religious groups had their origin in some theological,
doctrinal, or ideological dispute or concern. But the A.M.E.
Church originated as a protest against the inhumane treatment
which the helpless people of African descent were forced to
accept from the white people belonging to the St. George Methodist
Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This fact says
to us that the organization of the A.M.E. Church was the result
of racial discrimination rather than of any theological or doctrinal
concern.
The A.M.E. Church is a member of the family of Methodist Churches.
Its founder and first active bishop, Richard Allen, felt that
no religious sect or denomination would suit the capacity of
his people as well as did Methodism with its emphasis upon the
plain and simple gospel which the unlearned could understand,
and its orderly system of rules and regulations which the underdeveloped
needed. He felt that Methodism had what the "African" needed
to encourage him to make progress, to worship God freely, and
to fill every office for which he had the capability.
The "Africans" who started the A.M.E. Church were very poor
and most of them could not read nor write. Yet, under the leadership
of Richard Allen, they managed to buy an old blacksmith shop,
and to move it to a lot at the corner of Sixth and Lombard Streets
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they organized Bethel A.M.E.
Church (also called Mother Bethel) which stands today as one
of the historic shrines of Philadelphia.
In time other African American churches were started in Baltimore,
Maryland; Salem, New Jersey; Attleboro, Pennsylvania; Wilmington,
Delaware and other places in the United States. In the year
1816 these churches came together and formed the A.M.E. Church.
Richard Allen was elected to serve as the first active bishop.
Today, the A.M.E. Church has 18 active bishops and more than
a million members scattered throughout the 50 States in the
U.S.A., the Dominion of Canada, South America, West Africa,
South Africa and the West Indies. |
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