African Methodist Episcopal Church Founded: Independent Black Institution Established

Richard Allen, a formerly enslaved man who had purchased his freedom, founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia on April 9, 1816, after years of resistance to the segregated seating and limited authority offered to Black worshippers at St. George's Methodist Church. Allen had organized the Free African Society in 1787 and opened Bethel Church in 1794. The AME became the first major Black-controlled institution in American history — a church, mutual aid society, school network, and underground railroad node in one. By 1820 it had congregations in multiple states and served as a backbone of free Black community life.