America's First Black Priest
Diocesan Press Service. July 5, 1973 [73163]
Rev. Dr. Carleton Hayden, Department of History, Howard University, Washington, D. C.
Absalom Jones was born on November 6, 1746 as a slave in Delaware. He grew up in a relatively mild bondage since slavery was no longer economically profitable in the northern and middle colonies and was increasingly being attacked as immoral and undemocratic.
He purchased several books including a New Testament and taught himself to read. At the age of 16, his family was separated by sale and Jones' owner brought him to Philadelphia where he worked in his master's store as a clerk and handyman. In the evenings, Jones was allowed to work for himself and to save his earnings.
At the age of 20, he married a fellow slave and purchased her freedom. He then bought a house in his wife's name. In 1784, he purchased his own freedom but his master agreed to pay him good wages if he would continue to work in this store. This Jones did. He later purchased other property, built two houses, and rented them.
In Philadelphia he met his life-long friend and associate, Richard Allen. Together Jones and Allen became lay preachers among the black members of St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church. As a result of their active evangelistic and pastoral efforts, the black membership increased more than tenfold. The church officials became alarmed and without notifying the blacks, decided to segregate them into an upstairs gallery. This was degrading to the blacks, most of whom were free, because the galleries were reserved for slaves throughout the slave states. Finally, after a scuffle during a Sunday service in which ushers attempted to remove Jones and others, the black members walked out of the church in a body.
On April 12, 1787, they organized themselves into the Free African Society, the first known publicly organized society among Afro-Americans. It was both religious and benevolent. Members met monthly and paid dues which were applied to burial expenses, sick relief, widows, and fatherless children. Members who gambled, drank, or disregarded marriage vows were rigorously disciplined and finally expelled. They hired a store room where Jones and Allen held regular religious services.
Towards the end of 1792, the African Society decided to build a church. This was interrupted in 1793 by a severe yellow fever epidemic. Jones and Allen organized the black community to serve as nurses and undertakers. After the plague, a white publicist accused blacks of charging exorbitant rates and stealing. In 1794, Jones and Allen published an objective refutation of the charges which was endorsed by the Mayor of Philadelphia. He praised the blacks for "their diligence, attention and decency." The church was erected with the aid of Quakers and Episcopalians and dedicated on July 17, 1794 as "The African Church. "
Both Allen and Jones favored affiliation with the Methodist church but the majority would not hear of it since they had been "so violently persecuted" by the Methodists. The majority voted to unite themselves with the Protestant Episcopal church. Allen, who believed that the Methodist approach was more appropriate to black people, withdrew from the African Society with a few supporters. Jones reluctantly remained as sole leader.
On August 12, 1794, the African Church applied to Bishop William White to be received into the Diocese of Pennsylvania. Their application contained three conditions: that they be received as a body already organized; that they have control over their own local affairs forever; and that Jones be licensed as layreader and, if qualified, ordained as their minister. Although they wanted to accept the doctrine, discipline, and liturgy of the Episcopal church, their experience at St. George's had shown them what could happen where whites held control. They were formally received on October 17, 1794. Thus the African Church became St. Thomas African Episcopal Church with the rights and privileges of other parochial churches.
The diocesan convention in 1795 agreed to dispense Absalom Jones from Greek and Latin as requirements for ordination but stipulated that the African Church was not to send its rector or lay delegates to the convention or "to interfere with the general government of the Episcopal Church. " Absalom Jones and his fellow black churchmen again faced exclusion. In the same year he was made deacon but was not raised to the priesthood until 1804. He thus became, at the age of 58, the first priest of African descent in the United States. It was not until 1854 that the Roman Catholic Church ordained its first black priest.
For Absalom Jones, the church was not only for worship and religious instruction but education, for mutual aid, and for protest. The founders of St. Thomas stated that they had organized "for the purpose of advancing our friends in a true knowledge of God, of true religion, and the ways and means to restore our long lost race to the dignity of men. "
Since blacks were excluded from the public schools of Pennsylvania, education was a major need of the black community. Absalom Jones founded a day school at the church. At St. Thomas, he founded the Female Benevolent Society and the African Friendly Society.
As for his relations with Richard Allen, the two men continued to be co-workers for the uplift of Afro-Americans. In 1794, Allen purchased an old building and dedicated it as Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1798, a branch of the African Masonic Lodge was founded in Philadelphia. Jones was elected as the Worshipful Master and Allen as the treasurer. Although both protested against slavery, Allen was much more direct and vocal in his opposition. Jones did preach a Thanksgiving sermon on the abolition of the slave trade in 1808. During the war of 1812, they jointly recruited 3,000 blacks to form a " Black Legion. " They also founded an insurance company and a society for the suppression of vice and immorality.
In 1816, Jones united with four Methodist ministers to consecrate Allen as Bishop over the newly-formed African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Thus Jones helped to ordain the first black bishop of any church in the United States. Allen became bishop over churches with nearly 7,000 members. St. Thomas Church which attracted the more prosperous blacks remained small.
Absalom Jones died on February 13, 1818. He is significant not only as the first black priest in the United States but also as a leader in the establishment of religious, educational, and social institutions for the uplift of Afro-Americans and under their leadership and control.
(Note: The Standing Liturgical Commission is recommending to General Convention that the name of Absalom Jones be included in the Calendar, to be commemorated on Feb. 13. See release #73136.)