Absalom Jones was born into slavery in Delaware. He taught himself to read, and at age 15 was taken to Philadelphia, where he attended a night school operated by Quakers. Freed in 1874, he served as a lay minister for black members of St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church with his friend Richard Allen, and together they established the Free African Society to aid in the emancipation of slaves and assist widows, orphans, and the poor.
The evangelism of Jones and Allen greatly increased black membership at St. George's, whose vestry then decided to segregate black members to an upstairs gallery without notice. When ushers attempted to remove the black congregants, they exited the church. In 1792 Jones and Allen, with the assistance of local Quakers and Episcopalians, established the “First African Church” in Philadelphia. Soon after, the African Church joined the Protestant Episcopal Church, and it was renamed the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. Ordained in 1802, Jones became the first black American priest. He continued to be a leader in his community, founding a day school and calling on Congress to abolish the slave trade and work toward emancipation. The Episcopal Church remembers him on its calendar of saints on February 13, the anniversary of his death in 1818.
