Rev. Absalom Jones: First African-American Anglican Cleric, Philadelphia

An interesting story emerges below.  It is about one of the first African-American "Anglican" clerics in U.S. history: Rev. Absalom Jones.  A few surmisals that need historical documents.  First, these Churchmen and Churchwomen probably used the 1789 Book of Common Prayer.  We do not get historic documentation, however. We need that.  Second, this instrument would have invoked literacy, learning and deliberativeness amongst African-Americans.  But, many blacks like whites got caught up with revivalists.  In this story, we believe Benjamin Rush, a Philadelphian, who supported Rev. Absalom Jones was himself an Anglican.  Also, Rev. Jones learned to read in his earlier years.  We surmise also that he was familiar with the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.  Third, Reformation Anglicanism remembers this story.  I met an African-American "Presbyterian" Chaplain.  He traced his educational and confessional lineage back to Lexington, VA, and Gen. Stonewall Jackson's catechetical work with black children.  The Navy Chaplain said this established reading and educational standards that influenced his generations. This Navy Chaplain studied under the competent church historian, the Rev. Dr. Jack Gerstner. Fourth, another story.  The Rev. Geoffrey Hubbard (D.Phil., Oxford) established a work in the inner city of Philadelphia years ago.  The sizeable and non-literate Vietnamese population brought their children to Christ Church (formerly Reformed Episcopal Church).  The goal of the parents:  teach the children to read, e.g. The Book of Common Prayer, to learn theology and to learn English.  As usual, our larger narrative is the influence of the Book of Common Prayer on good order, literacy, decency, education, decorum, and Protestant and Reformed doctrine, worship and piety.  An interesting "lead" here on an African-American Anglican cleric with other surmisals on view.  The story follows below.

The Black Church

Rev. Absalom Jones, African-American
Prayer Book Churchman

When Richard Allen was 17 and the slave of a Delaware planter, he experienced a religious conversion that changed his life forever. For Allen, spiritual liberation led to physical liberation, as his master was also converted to Methodism and agreed to let Allen buy his freedom because slavery was questioned by his new faith. Allen went on to preach throughout South Carolina, New York, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania, before settling in Philadelphia, where he dreamed of founding an African church.


Absalom Jones did not earn his freedom until the age of 38. As a child he was a servant in his master's house, where he learned to read. In 1770, at age 23, he wed fellow slave Mary. The two worked and saved, first to purchase Mary's freedom after 8 years, and then for six more years until Jones' owner let him buy his own freedom.


The African Church of Philadelphia was made reality through the Free African Society established by Allen and Absalom Jones. With the help of Benjamin Rush and Robert Ralston, a white businessman, FAS leaders drew up a plan to organize the African Church on July 25, 1791. Soon thereafter, Allen, Jones, and others began soliciting funds, again with the help of Rush. Their appeals met with resistance from white church leaders, many of whom had been supportive of the black community, but disapproved of a separate black church. However, work on the church was again postponed by the Yellow Fever epidemic, but was resumed in December 1793. The FAS was non-denominational, including mostly Episcopal and Methodist members, but the majority of the blacks in the group favored uniting with the Episcopal Church. The African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, one of the first black churches in the country, opened its doors on July 17, 1794.  However, the FAS raised enough money to buy two adjacent lots on Fifth Street, just one block from the State House [emphasis added].

For more, see:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3narr3.html