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Absalom Jones

Absalom Jones

Early life ....................................................................................................................................................... 3

Priesthood ..................................................................................................................................................... 3

Free African Society ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Fugitive Slave Act ........................................................................................................................................ 4

African Methodist Episcopal Church ........................................................................................................... 4

References ..................................................................................................................................................... 4

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Absalom Jones

Absalom Jones

Born 1746

Delaware, USA

Died February 13, 1818 (aged 72)

Philadelphia

Occupation Slave, priest

Known for Anti-slavery petitioner

Spouse Mary King

Hypertext:

Early life ....................................................................................................................................................... 3

Priesthood ..................................................................................................................................................... 3

Free African Society ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Fugitive Slave Act ......................................................................................................................................... 4

African Methodist Episcopal Church ............................................................................................................ 4

References ..................................................................................................................................................... 4

Absalom Jones (1746 – February 13, 1818) was an African-American abolitionist and

clergyman. After founding a black congregation in 1794, in 1804 he was the first African-

American ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church of the United States. He is listed on the

Episcopal calendar of saints and blessed under the date of his decease, February 13, in the 1979

Book of Common Prayer as "Absalom Jones, Priest, 1818".

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Absalom Jones

Early life

Jones was born into slavery in Delaware in 1746. When he was sixteen, he was sold to a

storeowner in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While still a slave of Mr. Wynkoop, he married Mary

King, another slave, on January 4, 1770. By 1778 he had purchased his wife's freedom so that

their children would be free, and in another seven years he was able to purchase his own.[1]

Priesthood

Jones became a lay minister for black members in the interracial congregation of St. George's

Methodist Church. Together with Richard Allen, he was one of the first African Americans

licensed to preach by the Methodist Church.

Free African Society

In 1787 Jones and Allen, together with other black members, left St. George's, as they were tired

of being segregated to a gallery and given second-class status in the congregation. They founded

the Free African Society (FAS), first conceived as a non-denominational mutual aid society, to

help newly freed slaves in Philadelphia. Jones and Allen separated over their different directions

in religion, but they remained lifelong friends and collaborators.[2]

At the beginning of 1791, Jones started holding religious services at FAS. This became the core

of his congregation for a new church. Wanting to establish a black congregation independent of

white control, Jones in 1792 founded the congregation of the African Church in Philadelphia. It

petitioned to become an Episcopal parish. The church opened its doors on July 17, 1794, as the

African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, the first black church in Philadelphia.[2] Jones was

ordained as a deacon in 1795 and as a priest in 1804, the first African-American priest in the

Episcopal Church.[2] He was a well-known orator and helped establish the tradition of anti-

slavery sermons on New Year's Day.

A month after the church opened, the Founders and Trustees published "The Causes and Motives

for Establishing St. Thomas's African Church of Philadelphia," clearly stating their intent

"to arise out of the dust and shake ourselves, and throw off that servile fear, that the habit of

oppression and bondage trained us up in."[3]

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Absalom Jones

Fugitive Slave Act

After he was said to be the 1st slave to be a priest in the 1800s, Jones took part of the first group

of African Americans to petition the U.S. Congress. Their petition related to the 1793 Fugitive

Slave Act was criticized for encouraging cruelty and brutality, and noted the danger which free

blacks risked of being kidnapped and sold into slavery. While U.S. Representative George

Thatcher of Massachusetts responded with the desire to amend the Fugitive Slave Act, other

representatives' resistance to changing the law forced his proposal to fail.

African Methodist Episcopal Church

On a parallel path, Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the first

independent black church within the Methodist tradition. He and his followers converted a

building and opened on July 29, 1794 as Bethel AME Church. In 1799 Allen was ordained as the

first black minister in the Methodist Church by Bishop Francis Asbury. In 1816, Allen gathered

other black congregations in the region to create a new and fully independent denomination, the

African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1816, he was elected the AME's first bishop.

References

1. "Absalom Jones' Marriage to Mary", Brotherly Love, PBS, accessed 14 Jan 2009

2. "A Discourse...African Church", Brotherly Love, PBS, accessed 14 Jan 2009

3. "The Causes and Motives for Establishing St. Thomas's African Church...", Africans in

America, PBS, accessed 15 Jan 200

Links

Thomas F. Ulle, A History of St. Thomas' African Episcopal Church, 1794–1865,

Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania

"A Thanksgiving Sermon" (1808), Antislavery Literature Project

"The African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas", Official Web site of the Episcopal

Church

African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, Official Website

Official Web site of the Diocese of Pennsylvania

Absalom Jones birthplace in Milford, Delaware is at coordinates 38.91416°N

75.403998°W