January 1816

Richard Allen founds the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia in April 1816, the first independent Black denomination in America. Born of Allen's refusal to accept segregated seating at St. George's Methodist Church, the AME becomes a cornerstone of Black community, education, political organizing, and resistance. By 1820 it has congregations across the free states.

Richard Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia in 1816, the first independent Black denomination in the United States. By 1860, the AME had congregations throughout the North and border states. Black churches housed Underground Railroad stations, funded freedom suits, organized vigilance committees to protect free Black people from kidnapping, sponsored schools when Black children were excluded from public education, and served as meeting grounds for abolitionist organizing. Slaveholders understood the danger and banned Black churches throughout the Deep South after 1831.

Richard Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Philadelphia in 1816 — the first independent Black denomination in the United States. By 1860, the AME had congregations throughout the North and in border states. Black churches were the central institutions of free Black communities: they housed Underground Railroad stations, funded freedom suits, organized vigilance committees to protect free Black people from kidnapping, sponsored schools when Black children were excluded from public education, and served as meeting grounds for abolitionist organizing. Denmark Vesey's conspiracy was organized partly through Charleston's AME congregation. Slaveholders understood the danger and banned Black churches throughout the Deep South after 1831.

White politicians including Henry Clay and John Randolph found the American Colonization Society in December 1816, promoting removal of free Black people to Africa. Supporters include slaveholders who fear free Black communities inspire rebellion, and some northern whites who want racial separation. The ACS would establish Liberia in 1822. Its premise: Black people have no future in America.