Church grew out of the Free African Society (F.A.S.) which Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and others established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1787. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church pulled blacks off their knees while praying, F.A.S. members discovered just how far American Methodists would go to enforce racial discrimination against African Americans. George’s made plans to transform their m
utual aid society into an African congregation. Although most wanted to affiliate with the Protestant Episcopal Church, Allen led a small group who resolved to remain Methodists. In 1794 Bethel A.M.E. Church was dedicated with Allen as pastor. To establish Bethel’s independence from interfering white Methodists, Allen, a former Delaware slave, successfully sued in the Pennsylvania courts in 1807 and 1815 for the right of his congregation to exist as an independent institution. Because black Methodists in other middle Atlantic communities encountered racism and desired religious autonomy, Allen called them to meet in Philadelphia to form a new Wesleyan denomination, the A.M.E. Church.
