Freedom's Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers

375 Pages·2008·1.34 MB·English

by  Richard Newman

Freedom’s Prophet

Freedom’s
Prophet
Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church,
and the Black Founding Fathers
Richard S. Newman
a
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
new york university press
New York and London
www.nyupress.org
©2008by New York University
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Newman, Richard S.
Freedom’s prophet : Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church,
and the Black founding fathers / Richard S. Newman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13:978-0-8147-5826-7(cl : alk. paper)
ISBN-10:0-8147-5826-6(cl : alk. paper)
1. Allen, Richard, 1760–1831. 2. African Methodist Episcopal
Church—Bishops—Biography. 3. Bishops—United States—
Biography. 4. African Methodist Episcopal Church—History.
I. Title.
BX8459.A4N49 2008
287'.83—dc22 2007043259
[B]
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Lisa

Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: A Black Founder’s Many Worlds 1
1 “For Zion’s Sake . . . I Will Not Rest” 27
2 Gospel Labors 53
3 The Year of the Fever, Part 1: A (Deceptively)
Simple Narrative of the Black People 78
4 The Year of the Fever, Part 2: Allen’s
Antislavery Appeal 105
5 “We Participate in Common”: Allen’s Role as a
Black Mediator 128
6 A Liberating Theology: Establishing the
AME Church 158
7 Stay or Go? Allen and African Colonization 183
8 Allen Challenged: Shadow Politics and
Community Conflict in the 1820s 209
9 A Black Founder’s Expanding Visions 238
10 Last Rights 264
Conclusion: Richard Allen and the Soul of
Black Reform 291
Notes 301
Index 341
About the Author 359
vii

Preface and Acknowledgments
“Brave!” “Ingenious!” “Tactical!” “Brilliant!” High school
students were shouting out words that best described Richard Allen’s
1799 eulogy of George Washington. I had asked them to pick just one
word to characterize Allen’s speech, hoping that this little task would
create the beginnings of a broader discussion on African American pro-
testersduringtheAmericanRevolutionaryera.Agraduate-schoolfriend
who directed a wonderful program of one-day sessions at Strong Mu-
seum in Rochester for advanced-placement high school students had
put me in front of the group of about sixty kids from different schools.
I handed out my document, crossed my fingers, and hoped that some-
one would raise a hand to start the discussion. About forty-five minutes
later, I could barely get them to stop debating Allen’s ideology, strategy,
literary style, and political goals. “You should write a book about him,”
one of the teachers whispered to me as the students filed out of the
room. This book is my attempt to build on that wonderful discussion
about a black founder and his world a few years ago in a Rochester
classroom.
“I was afraid this would happen.” Now the words came from my
great editor at NYU Press, Deborah Gershenowitz, who had to put up
with yet another request for an extension on the book. “Why can’t bi-
ographers just let go of their subjects?!” She laughed when she said it,
but Deb was right: it’s tough to spend years with a biographical subject
and then let go. I always had great excuses—I found a new source, I
faced a new question, I just wanted to tweak a chapter one last time.
One of the best things about finishing a book, of course, is the opportu-
nity to thank the many people who helped make it possible. Learning
about Richard Allen and his world has been revelatory. But working in
some of America’s best research libraries, and getting savvy advice from
great friends and scholars, has been similarly fulfilling. It is a pleasure to
say thank you in print.
ix