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Richard Allen
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oung black preacher Richard Allen went to pray with some other black
Christians on a fateful day in 1787 at St. George's Methodist Church in
Philadelphia.
They had contributed a good deal of money and labor to the church, but
the leaders had decided to reserve the altar for whites. Blacks had to
sit in the gallery. A church trustee demanded their removal even before
they finished praying. In fact, they dragged Allen from the altar.
So Richard and his friends left and began holding services in a rented
storeroom. From that humble beginning the African Methodist Episcopal
(AME) Church eventually emerged. It grew rapidly and has provided a spiritual
bulwark and home in Christ to millions of black Americans. It now has
over 2 and 1/4 million members.
Richard Allen provided the critical early leadership for the AME. He
was born a slave in 1760, bought his freedom, gave his life to Christ,
and is now recognized as one of the great Christian leaders in American
history.
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