Daniel Coker Elected First AME Bishop, Then Defers to Allen

Baltimore educator and minister Daniel Coker was initially elected the first bishop of the newly formed AME Church in April 1816 but declined the office the following day, allowing Richard Allen to be consecrated. Coker's earlier 1810 pamphlet A Dialogue Between a Virginian and an African Minister was the first anti-slavery publication by a Black Marylander.