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1794

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Achievement · religion
St. Thomas African Episcopal Church Founded in Philadelphia

Absalom Jones founded St. Thomas African Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, the first African American Episcopal congregation in the United States, which was formally received into the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. The church provided a community anchor for Philadelphia's growing free Black population and stood alongside Richard Allen's Bethel AME Church as a pillar of Black institutional life in the new republic.

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July 1794
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Key events

  1. July 17, 1794
    St. Thomas African Episcopal Church Founded in Philadelphia

    Absalom Jones founded St. Thomas African Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, the first African American Episcopal congregation in the United States, which was formally received into the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. The church provided a community anchor for Philadelphia's growing free Black population and stood alongside Richard Allen's Bethel AME Church as a pillar of Black institutional life in the new republic.

  2. July 29, 1794
    Richard Allen founds Mother Bethel

    A cornerstone of independent Black religious and civic life in America.