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TASK FORCE TO STUDY THE HISTORY AND LEGACY OF SLAVERY IN MARYLAND (Final Report) 1999/12/31 MdHR 991422 MdHR 991422, Image No: 371 Print image (88K) |
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TASK FORCE TO STUDY THE HISTORY AND LEGACY OF SLAVERY IN MARYLAND (Final Report) 1999/12/31 MdHR 991422 MdHR 991422, Image No: 371 Print image (88K) |
| Bishop Richard Alien (1760-1831) AME Founding Bishop Richard Alien was born a slave in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but was sold to a new master and grew up in Dover, Delaware. His master permitted him to gain an education, but he was basically self-taught Alien was allowed to work as a day laborer, brick maker, and wagon driver, which provided him the opportunity to earn enough money to purchase his freedom. During the Revolutionary War, Richard Alien worked at odd jobs, but was primarily a wagon driver and itinerant preacher. After the war, in 1786, he returned to Philadelphia as a Methodist minister, and worked to bring blacks into SL George's Methodist Church where he preached. As more blacks attended the church, conflicts developed with the white members. Alien proposed a separate church, but black and white parishioners objected to the splitting of the church. In 1787, Alien along with Absalom Jones, another former slave who had moved from Delaware to Philadelphia with his grocer-owner, formed the Free African Society, the first organization of black Americans. In November of 1787, the black parishioners had been relegated to the gallery at St. George's Church, and whites tried to remove some of the black worshipers when they knelt too far forward to pray. They were not even allowed to finish their prayers. Alien and Jones led the black worshipers out of the church and formed their own churches. Alien formed the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and Jones formed the St. Thomas Free African Church within the Protestant denomination. However, the battle was not over, as Alien had to win a court suit in 1816 against the elders of St. George's Church because they still controlled the new congregation. Alien was ordained as a bishop in 1799, and in 1816 he was first consecrated AME bishop. As a civic leader, he was also active in organizing blacks in Philadelphia to care for victims of the yellow fever epidemic of 1793. In 1817 he took an active role in the anti-colonization movement in Philadelphia, and wrote anti-slavery articles against the American colonization movement. He also encouraged free blacks to educate black children. These efforts he continued to pursue until his death. Source Toppin, Edgar A. A Biographical History of Blacks in America Since 1528. New York: McKay Company, Inc., 1971.247-48. Benjamin Oliver Bird Educator and Administrator Benjamin Bird was the first principal of Princess Anne Academy, which later became the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. After his death, his wife, Portia E. (Lovett) Bkd, held his position until her death. The couple's youngest of nine children was Crystal Bird Fauset, who became the first black woman state legislator. Source Hines, Dariene Clark. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Vol. I, A-L. New York: Carisoo Publishing, Inc., 1993. 410-11. 11 |