Richard Allen and Religious Freedom

Color image of a detail of a painting of Richard Allen, a black man with close cropped hair. — Detail, Richard Allen, by an unidentified artist, c. 1795
Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University

Richard Allen purchased his freedom from slavery as a young man. He founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, a worldwide denomination today. Allen's church, Mother Bethel, is still a vibrant congregation. With his good friend, Absalom Jones, Bishop Allen founded the Free African Society to protect and support free blacks. He also worked to abolish slavery.

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