America's Black Founders: Revolutionary Heroes & Early Leaders with 21 Activities
1812 Richard Allen Absalom Jones and James Forten organize an all black unit to protect Philadelphia during the War of 1812 1808 Absalom Jones preaches his first Thanksgiving Day sermon in celebration of the end of the trans Atlantic slave trade 1794 Absalom Jones founds St Thomas Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia Richard Allen founds Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia Andrew Bryan builds First African Baptist Church in Savannah Georgia 1793 Richard Allen and Absalom Jones provide relief efforts during the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793
0 0 When in the Course of Human Events CoLONIAL DAYS P CHURC CHURCH RICHARD ALLEN FOUNDER AE 1760 1831 S CHURCH TI Richard Allen stained glass window in Mother Bethel AME Church Philadelphia Courtesy of Mother Bethel AME Church
n 1760 Richard Allen was born Not noticed by the world far away from the royal palace in Eng land not even affected by the talk of freedom and liberty in colonial America the news reached the ears of his mother's master in Philadelphia Pennsyl vania another slave had been born Richard's mother held him close hoping against hope to shield her innocent baby from the harsh real ities of slavery that peculiar institution which sup plied the rich treasures for the king and gave the colonists leisure to pursue their liberties in the New World Yet slavery held no freedom or liberties for the slave As Richard's mother rocked her newborn baby to sleep what thoughts crossed her mind She knew too well of the slave's auction block where babies were torn from their mother's arms and sold away to a different owner never to be seen again Her own father a white colonist had sold her and her mother as if they were cattle As she counted her baby's 10 little fingers and 10 little toes Richard's mother could not count on his future It would have warmed her mother's heart however to know that one day her son would return to Philadelphia the city of his birth to become the greatest and most influential leader of free blacks in the newly formed United States of America He would use his freedom to fight for the liberty and jus
tice of all African Americans both enslaved and free Richard Allen would lead the way He would be the first to forge footsteps and create a path along the trail of freedom for others to follow He would rise up from the pit of slavery to become one of the Black Founders of America The House of Benjamin Chew At the time Richard Allen was born slavery was firmly established throughout the American colonies Allen's father first arrived in Philadelphia Pennsylva nia on a slave ship from the Caribbean He and his wife and children were the property of a Quaker mas ter Benjamin Chew Slavery is a bitter pill Richard Allen When their son Richard was born on February 14 1760 the Philadelphia household of Benjamin Chew was a hub of important political activity Chew was climbing the political ladder in colonial America He was appointed the attorney general of the Prov ince of Pennsylvania from 1755 to 1769 By the time Richard Allen was toddling around his mother's skirts Benjamin Chew lived in an elegant house of the fashionable neighborhood on South Third Street
