Historical person
Richard Allen
1760–1831
Allen purchased his freedom after becoming a Methodist preacher and settled in Philadelphia. Alongside Absalom Jones he organised the Free African Society, and he later led Black worshippers who withdrew from discriminatory treatment in white Methodist congregations. Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church became the foundation of an independent denomination, with Allen elected its first bishop in 1816.
His religious leadership also supported education, mutual aid, abolition and organised Black political action. Richard Allen was a formerly enslaved minister, abolitionist and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Richard Allen was born in Delaware Colony and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
David Hackett Fischer’s African Founders presents Richard Allen as one of the Black leaders who converted emancipation into institution-building in the early United States. His work in Philadelphia, the founding of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and his defence of independent Black religious organisation illustrate how free Black communities created civic structures while confronting discrimination inside supposedly universal republican institutions.
Non Fiction
Non Fiction featuring Richard Allen (1 book)
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.