American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society 303George, Carol V. R. George. Segregated Sabbaths: Richard Allen
and the Emergence of Independent Black Churches. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1973.
Nash, Gary B. “New Light on Richard Allen: Th e Early Years of Free-
dom.” William and Mary Quarterly 46, no. 2 (1989):332–40.
Winch, Julie. A Gentleman of Color: Th e Life of James Forten. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2002.American and Foreign
Anti-Slavery Society
In the 19th century, abolitionists represented only a tiny
minority of the free American public. Historians estimate
that perhaps 1 percent of Northerners were wholehearted
supporters of radical abolitionism. Although members of
the abolitionist movement were fi rmly united in their de-
sire to see the institution of slavery brought to an end, de-
spite all of their eff orts, they could not agree on the best
way to secure the liberation of the enslaved. In the decades
before the Civil War, abolitionists fi ercely debated what role
the American government and antislavery political parties
ought to play in abolitionism, what women’s roles should be
in the antislavery movement, and whether or not American
churches could be a signifi cant venue for the preaching of
the antislavery gospel. Unable to reconcile their distinctly
divergent views on these issues, in 1840, the abolitionist
movement spilt in two, with one group of disgruntled abo-
litionists leaving the dominant antislavery organization, the
American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), to form their own
group. Th is new organization, the American and Foreign
Anti-Slavery Society (AFASS), existed for 15 years, during
which time it sought to fi rmly separate the causes of aboli-
tionism and women’s rights, involve American churches in
the antislavery fi ght, and use political activism to advance
the abolitionist cause.
Although the fi nal break in the abolitionist move-
ment took place at the AASS’s 1840 convention, trouble
had been brewing within the antislavery ranks for several
years before this defi nitive rift. During the 1830s, William
Lloyd Garrison (an extremely infl uential leader within the
AASS) had become increasingly radical in his views on a
diverse assortment of social issues. Garrison and his sup-
porters had become more harshly critical of American
churches for refusing to take a fi rm stand against slavery.
Garrisonians’ attacks on churches and church leaders madeof the 1820s, Haitian migration lost support in the black
community, and Allen began to denounce emigration and
colonization.
In fact, throughout the 1830s, Allen’s public condem-
nation of the American Colonization Society established
a precedent among free black leaders. For Allen, coloni-
zation was an insult to his life’s work: Why should blacks
be forced to leave when they were so close to successful
assimilation? Subsequent black leaders, such as William
Wells Brown and Frederick Douglass, would agree, invok-
ing Allen’s fi erce stance against the society. Th e year before
he died, Allen further contributed to the organizational
cultivation of black America when he was elected pres-
ident of the fi rst national black political organization, the
National Colored Convention. Th is group originated at
Bethel Church when 40 men met to protest systematic dis-
crimination against blacks in northern urban centers. Th e
subsequent “colored conventions” became a critical loca-
tion of black debate and organization throughout the 19th
century. Finally, as Allen cultivated more public venues for
black self-determination, the AME church continued to
grow dramatically under his leadership. At the time of his
death on March 26, 1831, the African Methodist Episcopal
Church had over 7,000 members in the United States and
missions in Canada, Haiti, and West Africa. Allen’s legacy
was not merely institutional or ecclesiastical, however.
With the publication of his memoir, Allen ensured that his
life story would not be lost to the generations. Indeed, his
experiences have been retold, revised, and reaffi rmed by
generations of African Americans bent on remaking their
biographical and national destiny.
See also: African Methodist Episcopal Church; Jones, Absalom
Kathryn Emily Loft onBibliography
Allen, Richard. Th e Doctrines and Discipline of the African Meth-
odist Episcopal Church. Philadelphia: Richard Allen and
Jacob Tapsico for the African Methodist connection in the
United States, 1817.
Allen, Richard. Th e Life, Experience and Gospel Labors of the Rt.
Rev. Richard Allen, Written By Himself. Philadelphia: Martin &
Boden, 1833.
Andrews, William. To Te l l a F r e e S t o r y : Th e First Century of Afro-
American Autobiography, 1760–1865. Urbana: University of
Illinois Press, 1986.
Campbell, James T. Songs of Zion: Th e African Methodist Church in
the United States and South Africa. Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press, 1998.