Born February 14, 1760
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died March 16, 1831
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Freedperson, preacher, community leader

Richard Allen was born a slave. At the age of seventeen, Allen became deeply involved in the Methodist religion, a form of Christianity. After gaining his freedom at the age of twenty, he began traveling and preaching to blacks and whites alike. When he was twenty-seven, Allen emerged as a leader in Philadelphia's black community, co-founding the Free African Society as a first step toward establishing the country's first African church in 1794. Allen founded mutual aid societies, helped create numerous schools for black youths, and organized and presided over many conferences and conventions. Allen proved to a doubting society by example that blacks were more than capable of independently creating their own social and economic opportunities.