ABSALOM JONES

'Absalom Jones' (1746 – February 13, 1818), was an African American abolitionist and clergyman. He was the first African American priest in the Episcopal Church and is listed on the Episcopal calendar of saints and blessed under the date of his decease, February 13, in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer as "Absalom Jones, Priest, 1818".
Jones was born into slavery in Delaware in 1746. When he was sixteen, he was sold to a storeowner in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While still a slave of Mr. Wynkoop, he married Mary King, another slave, on January 4, 1770. He paid for her freedom by 1778, and by 1784, he paid for his own freedom.
He became a lay minister for black members in a Methodist church and later founded African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia, which petitioned to become an Episcopal parish. Jones was later ordained as the first African American priest in the Episcopal Church. He was a well-known orator and helped establish the tradition of New Year's antislavery sermons.
Jones was also part of the first group of African Americans to petition the U.S. Congress. The petition was in regard to cruelty and brutality encouraged by the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act. While U.S. Representative George Thatcher of Massachusetts responded with the desire to amend the Fugitive Slave Act, resistance to changing the law forced the proposal to fail.
Absalom Jones and Richard Allen founded the Free African Society.

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External links

External links

★ A History of St. Thomas' African Episcopal Church, 1794-1865, Dissertation by Thomas F. Ulle, University of Pennsylvania

★ Absalom Jones at Find-A-Grave

★ Article from PBS

★ A Thanksgiving Sermon (1808) - from the Antislavery Literature Project

★ Official Web site of the Diocese of Pennsylvania

★ Official Web site of the Episcopal Church