Bishop Richard Allen, Founder of the A.M.E. Church

Kent County · dedicated 1989 · Loockerman & Federal Streets, Dover

Richard Allen founded and became the first Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1816. Born into slavery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 14, 1760, Allen and his family were sold to a family near Dover in 1772. While there, he purchased his freedom, became a minister and joined the Continental Army as a non-combatant during the Revolutionary War. After returning to Philadelphia, he and Sussex Countian, Absalom Jones, founded the Free African Society in 1787. He helped organize and was elected president of “The First Convention of the People of Colour” in 1830.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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