St. Thomas Episcopal Church (Philadelphia)
Encyclopedia
The African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas was founded in 1792 in Philadelphia
, Pennsylvania
, as the first black Episcopal Church
in the United States. It developed from the Free African Society
, a non-denominational group formed by blacks who left St. George Methodist Church because of discrimination. Led by Absalom Jones
, a free black and lay Methodist preacher who became ordained in 1804 as a priest in the Episcopal Church, the Church became one of the major features in Philadelphia's black cultural life. While the congregation has worshipped in several different buildings, it has been in continuous activity since its founding.
The Church became the first black church in the country to purchase a pipe organ
, and then the first to hire a black woman as organist, Ann Appo.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, as the first black Episcopal Church
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
in the United States. It developed from the Free African Society
Free African Society
The Free African Society was founded in Philadelphia in April 1787. The leaders were Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, free blacks whose goal was to create a non-denominational religious organization that served the spiritual, economic and social needs of Philadelphia's African-American community...
, a non-denominational group formed by blacks who left St. George Methodist Church because of discrimination. Led by Absalom Jones
Absalom Jones
Absalom Jones was an African-American abolitionist and clergyman. After founding a black congregation in 1794, in 1804 he was the first African-American ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church of the United States...
, a free black and lay Methodist preacher who became ordained in 1804 as a priest in the Episcopal Church, the Church became one of the major features in Philadelphia's black cultural life. While the congregation has worshipped in several different buildings, it has been in continuous activity since its founding.
The Church became the first black church in the country to purchase a pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
, and then the first to hire a black woman as organist, Ann Appo.