Mother Bethel

Mother Bethel, founded in 1791, was the first African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church in America and the beginning of the first African-American denomination in the United States under Richard Allen, a former slave who later became its first bishop in 1816. An outgrowth of the Free African Society established by Allen and Absalom Jones in April, 1787, it emerged after they led worshipers out of St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church in protest against segregation. From that exodus came two African-American churches: Jones founded the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in 1794, while Allen, choosing to remain a Methodist, nurtured a congregation in a blacksmith shop that he hauled to this site for worship. Officially dedicated by Bishop Francis Asbury, that building was the first of four structures here, and the present structure, designed by Hazelhurst and Huckel, was built in 1889. The site is the oldest parcel of land continuously owned by African Americans, and its 200 year history reflects the African-American experience through abolitionism, service on the Underground Railroad, Civil War recruiting, the first national convention of African-Americans, educational work begun by Allen in 1795, public service during the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1793 and the War of 1812, appearances by Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, and support for the first Black periodical and insurance company. Today the A.M.E. Church is an international denomination with over two million members, and the anvil recalls Allen's blacksmith shop and symbolizes self-help and self-determination as his vision of the Black church inspired generations of African-American churches and leaders.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States