Richard Allen

Richard Allen (Philadelphia, February 14, 1760 - Philadelphia, March 26, 1831) was an American religious leader.

She was born to slave parents and her family was sold to a farmer in Delaware. He converted to Methodism at the age of 17, being allowed to preach a lustrum later.

By 1786 he had already purchased his freedom and settled in Philadelphia, where he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church of St. George. Racial discrimination forced him to resign in 1787 and became a blacksmith within the first black church in the United States.

He and his followers built the African Methodist Church of Bethel and in 1799, he was ordained as their pastor. In 1816, he organized a convention of black leaders to form the African Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was named his first bishop. It is considered holy of the Anglican communion, its celebration is commemorated the 26 of March.

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