Richard Allens Contribution to American National Cultural Tradition - Essay Example

Richard Allen When speaking on America’s origin, on its foundation of political, social and religious systems of justice, they are usually Founding Fathers who are first to be thanked for freedom. However, they are white Founding Fathers, who are widely recalled: Benjamin Franklin, Tomas Jefferson, and John Adams… Yet America won’t be America without a cultural impact of other races which have created its unique history and tradition. Especially, it’s fair to speak this way about African Americans, who for centuries had struggled for equality and appropriate rights, had struggled to be recognized as American citizens. One of the greatest strugglers on a field, and basically, the first one, is a black Founding Father, a bishop and a founder of the FAS and African Methodist Episcopal Church, Richard Allen. According to his biographer Richard Newman, Allen had sincerely believed, that if white Americans listen to African Americans, it would make both of them better citizens, better Christians and, basically, better people (“Book Discussion on Freedom’s Prophet”). With his life and preaching he had confirmed these views. Becoming preacher It’s not much what’s known for sure about Richard Allen’s early years, until he speaks for himself with his public activity. “Unfortunately, when one digs deeper into his (Allen’s) personal thoughts and emotions, Allen becomes like the overwhelming majority of African Americans before the Civil War – a bit harder to track” (Newman 11). Allen speaks poorly about own childhood. He says, he was born in 1760 in Philadelphia, being a slave to Benjamin Chew. His parents also had other children, among which Allen was sold from Chew to a new master, Stokeley Sturgis from Delaware. Allen speaks respectively on his ex-master. “He was what the world called a good master… He was more like a father to his slaves” (Allen 6). The most important thing that Sturgis made for Allen was letting him and his brother to go for Methodist class meetings. During his teen’s years, Allen was slowly turning to Christ, ‘till in 1777 he was converted. “Allen’s autobiography trumpeted two birthdays: the one that put him on earth and his rebirth, or conversion experience” (Newman 40). The role which religious environment played in Allen’s life cannot be overestimated. The case is that Allen had spent his early years within Quakers’ environment in Delaware, and particularly, they were Methodists. One of the Quakers’ doctrines proclaims equality of all people before God, nevertheless of race, sex and other differences. In this way Quakers deny any form of one people oppression upon other. Quakers were mostly European Americans. “Despite the legal and cultural standing, some masters were haunted by a looming idea: bondage was a sin” (Newman 32). For these reasons, when one day Allen asked Sturgis, if Methodists can come and preach at him, master agreed. Newman says, it was Methodism what really brought Allen his freedom, because after the preaching which continued about half of a year, his master Sturgis became convinced that slavery was a sin (Newman 34). He then proposed Allen and his brother to let them free on condition that within 5 years boys would pay him back 2 thousand dollars for the each freedom. Allen recalls those days, “When I left my master’s house I knew not what to do, not being used for hard work” (Allen 7). Newman stresses, “Allen worked like hell to gain his freedom” and actually, had made that money one and a half year earlier (Newman 44). Becoming free, “Negro Richard” had turned into “Richard Allen”, and at last, fully focused his activity on religion. These years and years after, was the time when Allen studied a lot. “Often depicted as unschooled, Allen nevertheless mastered literacy, largely throughout religious instructions and Bible study, while in his late teens and early twenties” (Newman 11). Soon he became a very noticeable figure among Methodists, and was encouraged by audience to preaching. “I then travelled extensively, striving to preach the Gospel”, and moreover “Allen paid out of own pocket to be a Methodist itinerant” (Allen 8) (Newman 46). In this way during 1783, 1784 and 1785 Allen was moving and itinerating in different places like Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Baltimore and Maryland. There he had met Francis Asbury, also a Methodist preacher and later, Methodist bishop. Allen recalls those days, “Many souls were awakened, and cried aloud to the Lord to have mercy upon them”, and what’s remarkable, sometimes “there were but few colored people in the neighborhood – the most of my congregation was white” (Allen 10). After Methodist conference in Baltimore in 1784, where Allen was officially raised to the preacher, and with the view of his successful practice, in 1786 he received “the invitation of a white Methodist elder” to return to Philadelphia and be a “minister to black congregates” for St. George’s Church (Newman 50). Allen took the chance. FAS and AME founding From this time Allen starts his preaching activity for St. George’s Church. Newman is convinced, Allen really believed, that he has a massage to convey to other people (“Book Discussion on Freedom’s Prophet”). Thus, when he came back to Philadelphia and found out there’s only a possibility of morning service, and that there’s only a few black congregates to preach at, Allen decided to preach wherever he found a place, and whenever there was a need. Soon a number of black congregates increased for Methodists meetings. Newman says, it’s important to stress, that Allen came back to another Philadelphia: the city was renewed and had, particularly, turned into the center of black freedom (Newman 55). This made a reason why Allen was so inspired for his coming hard work. Yet soon Allen had noticed that whites’ negative racial attitudes remained the same. Thus, he provided different types of social activity in order to establish conditions for Africans to rise in Philadelphia society. For example, he had found a chimney-sweeping business which, they say, was dangerous and not promising, but it gave jobs for African people in Philadelphia and Allen kept the business (Newman 57). “According to Allen, by working hard, learning a craft, and remaining humble and pious, freed blacks would rise in American culture” (Newman 57). He also turned his view on necessity of social justice for African Americans, not only in religious, but in political life. Already since Methodist conference in Baltimore in 1784, he began to think about building a powerful Afro-Christian constituency. “Many slaveholders’ greatest fear was not a massive slave rebellion, but the specter of a “blackened” republic via universal emancipation and African American equality” (Newman 10). Thus, in 1787 Allen with the help of another Methodist preacher, Absalom Jones, decided to found the Free African Society (FAS). The goal was to provide Africans’ social arising despite the religious tents of black people. Newman admits, “For a majority of the Free African Society’s eight founding members had once been enslaved” (Newman 60). The authority of organization grew. Soon similar benevolent organizations were established by other black leaders in other cities, keeping Allen’s one as an example. Yet Allen’s organization, naturally, couldn’t help being religious. Other members started to notice there was too much “black Methodism”. In 1788 Allen stopped attending FAS meetings, and “by June 1789, the FAS had actually ejected him from the organization” (Newman 62). On the other hand, the retirement from FAS made Allen stay focused on African independent church project, which he also dreamed of since 1784 Methodist conference. Newman says, that Allen used to introduce himself as a bishop firstly, usually highlighting that church was his greatest establishment, and bishop position mattered to him above all (Newman 65). Despite the idea seemed risky, Allen started raising money for the church project among both, white and black population. Not many blacks were willing to participate because of the fear to be perceived as rebellions by whites, and not many whites shared the idea of African church independence. But Allen was steadfast, and already had a place for church which he had bought in 1787. Later the church was called Mother Bethel Church. “This was the first African church or meeting house that was erected in the United States of America” (Allen 16). Despite the dreaming, another reason made Allen look for a better church for black congregates, for a church which would be more independent and suitable for free African people of Philadelphia. The suppression from elders in St. George’s church became unbearable. For example, Allen was forbidden to preach in his ecstatic manner, and also, instruction followed how should and how he should not give services. Allen recalls, “We were dragged off of our knees in St. George’s church” (Allen 14). Coming to Philadelphia in July, 1794 a bishop Francis Asbury had officially opened the church. Newman says, “Stability would now become Allen’s primary concern” (Newman 53). Since then, Allen was preaching at own founded church up to 1813. Soon other similar African Methodist churches had started to appear in New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. In 1816 those churches were united together, and proclaimed Allen to be their bishop. In this way, African Methodist Episcopal Church was found. Allen’s beliefs and their historical context Despite the later 18th century is widely considered to be Age of Reason, Enlightenment era, or an era of the open mind, it was hard even for enlightened white Founding Fathers to recognize black people to be equal citizens. Some of Founding Fathers had used slaves. Tomas Jefferson in his Notes on the State of Virginia, though thinking about giving freedom to all slaves, wasn’t considering African Americans and European Americans to be the same. “Many white Founding Fathers did scrupulously avoid the slavery issue” (Newman 20). The explanation of this behavior was as simple as it was common: complicated and unjust relationships between whites and blacks would reveal themselves in a form of a social war, if blacks were given the same citizen rights and responsibilities. Yet black leaders were more optimistic on a subject, and shared a belief that if living under state and God’s laws, all Americans, blacks and whites, would live in peace. They believed, all Americans can move forward from the racial past and change their attitudes on a slavery and racism (“Book Discussion on Freedom’s Prophet”). Newman says, for this reason Richard Allen was trying to draw white leaders’ attention to the blacks’ equality all the time. He struggled to show that Africans know how to be good people, true Christians and basically, patriots (“Book Discussion on Freedom’s Prophet”). Naturally, the most crucial Allen’s belief was on slavery to be a sin, and thus, discourse of Allen’s activity was both religious and political. The case is that Philadelphia of 1780s-1790s was a center city of America, a capital where people over the seas used to come and make an impression of American way of life. Logically, if social and religious changes should took place somewhere, then in Philadelphia. As it was previously mentioned, a lot of free blacks used to come to Philadelphia, and as it was still, a very religious time, “free black communities coalesced not so much around single leaders, but around churches, reform institutions, and kinship networks” (Newman 19). Newman says, Allen in his activity used to unite politics and religion “in a very respectful way” in order to answer on concerns of his time (“Book Discussion on Freedom’s Prophet”). From the very beginning his methods were peaceful. “Allen adhered to the principles of nonviolent protest throughout his life” and used the letter of the law and God’s word as moral and political weapons (Newman 10). Methodism Allen considered being the most appropriate religious for Africans, firstly because of the social conditions of blacks: Methodism was plain and calling for humbling and meekness. Moreover, it allowed uniting within the study Allen’s both, anti-slavery attitudes and American freedom republican claims. “Allen’s theology revolved around two key beliefs: Christian moralism and liberation theology”, and he struggled to “merge faith and racial politics in the young republic” (Newman 9) (Newman 23). Naturally, two most important texts for Allen were the Bible and Declaration of Independence. “He was American, but he was African” (“Book Discussion on Freedom’s Prophet”). Allen was deeply concerned with the future of America, and was considering African Americans to be an important part of American nation. Allen used to think in national terms and, as Newman puts it, the discourse of his activity can be called “a theology of inclusiveness” (Newman 9). It was not only a struggle against slavery and for Christian way of life, but an attempt to find a just place for African Americans within an American republic. Yet Newman says, Allen hadn’t stayed so optimistic ‘till the very end, and expressed an “increasing criticism about achieving racial justice in America” (“Book Discussion on Freedom’s Prophet”). In his later years he had started to think about Africans’ possible migration from America, as well as white Founding Fathers commonly did. Allen had considered, for example, African migration to Canada, or Haiti but denied both variants because of powerful catholic and voodoo cults on those lands. In his later years, Allen had experienced what Newman calls a “double consciousness”: despite that he “emphasized the need for black safety valve beyond American shores”, himself Allen never left America and continued his African American discourse. Richard Allen, the Man There’s not much information left on the family he have hailed from, and all which is known may be widely questioned. Himself, Allen also never spoke or wrote much on a subject, even in his later years, maybe considering “that if public work truly reveals one’s inner character, that his own public work would reveal his character” (Newman 14). And he appeared to be right: Allen’s image consists of others’ reflections on a bishop. Newman gives a visual porter of Richard Allen. “He was an average height for his time… Roundly build… With a frame that indicated endurance and strength… Tightly curled hair” (Newman 6). Allen was remembered for his strong will and stubbornness, which was especially rare in times of general African flexibility because of the fear before whites. In times of resistance, he had chosen a peaceful manner of rebellion, the way of speaking God’s truth and praying. The reason is simple: God had mattered to him so much. “God is Love”, he used to say (Newman 41). He was literacy man, constantly studying biblical commentaries, and referencing to Holy books when preparing for his preaching, services, and in his criticism, but when speaking, he mostly “speak off of the cuff”, not sight- reading. He was emotional when preaching with his raised arms and burning eyes. Already being a bishop, Allen owned “several properties”, among them his first, Bethel Church which he had built with own money and own hands by painting walls and buying interior needed for services (Newman 5). Except of his preaching duty, Allen was a family man. There’s not much information on both of his wives, but it was known they both were Methodists, also once enslaved. Both of them came to Philadelphia from other cities. Allen first wife, Flora, was with him while founding Bethel Church. She shared interests and views of her husband, was a great helper and also, visited Allen’s services. On a household, she tailored “a respectable home” which her husband as a man of a certain social position now, was needed to host his friends (a lot of whites among them) and maintaining contacts. Unfortunately, Flora died in 1801 after the long-term illness. Couple had no children (Newman 74). Allen had married again and did have six children from his second wife, Sarah. As well as Flora, Sarah became a great helper for her husband on his religious and social duties. She is remembered as “Founding Mother” and “Mother Allen” for her contributions to African American community of Philadelphia (Sanders 120). Newman admits, that both Flora and Sarah became “the iconic black women” of their time. Summing up, it’s hard to overestimate Richard Allen’s contribution to American national cultural tradition. Side by side, searching for truth and freedom he stands among others American black and white Founding Fathers. Yet being once a slave himself, Allen struggled for justice and equality of African Americans in those times when in public opinion, slaves were hardly considered to be human beings at all. As the founder and the First bishop of AME church, Richard Allen had managed to pull together and coordinate in a peaceful, Christian way a huge number of free African Americans, and to help them to see their future within American nation. Works Cited Allen, R. The life, experience, and gospel labors of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, to which is annexed the rise and progress of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Containing a Narrative of the Yellow Fever in the Year of Our Lord 1793: With an Address to the People of Color in the United States. Martin & Boden, Philadelphia, 1833. Retrieved from http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/allen/allen.html Newman, R. S. Freedom’s Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers. NYU Press, 2008. “Book Discussion on Freedom’s Prophet”. C-SPAN2 Book TV. 19 June 2008. Retrieved from http://www.c-span.org/video/?206510-1/book-discussion-freedoms-prophet Sanders, N. I. America’s Black Founders. Chicago Review Press, 2010. Read More