The Souls of Black Folk Group

Question:

walthall
walthall

Who was the first African-American Episcopalian priest?

Since Alexander Crummell was ordained in 1844, isn't Absalom Jones, ordained priest in 1802, actually the first African-American Episcopalian priest ordained?

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Posted by walthall on Tuesday September 9, 2008 at 12:24 PM and tagged with crummel, episcopalian, priest, the souls of black folk.

Answers:


  1. urthona

    eNotes Editor

    You are correct, Jones was ordained in the Episcopal Church four decades before Crummell.

    Where in the Crummell chapter does Du Bois indicate that Crummell was the first African-American ordained as a Episcopalian priest?

    Sources:
    http://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI8703281/

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    Posted by urthona on Tuesday September 9, 2008 at 2:23 PM

  2. walthall
    walthall

    I would swear that it was on this website that I read that Crummell was the first black ordained as an Episcopalian priest. Now, when I Google "Alexander Crummell" all I get is my statement. I should have made a hard copy of the statement I thought I read. It is not longer forthcoming. I'm sure no one changed the web site, ergo, I must have been mistaken. Mea maxima culpa. In any event, I will be preaching on him at the National Cathedral tomorrow.

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    Posted by walthall on Tuesday September 9, 2008 at 2:42 PM


  3. linda-allen Teacher
    High School - 10th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    According to the official web site of the Episcopal Church (episcopalchurch.org), Absalom Jones was the first African American priest. The church sets aside February 13 to "commemorate blessed Absalom, the first black priest and founder of the first black congregation in the Episcopal Church."

    Absalom Jones helped to found another historically black denomination. In 1787, Jones, Richard Allen, and other black leaders founded the Free African Society when they were forced out of the white Methodist Episcopal Church. While Jones found his spiritual home within the Episcopal Church proper, Allen created a new Wesleyan denomination for African American worshipers, calling it the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

    Visit the links below for more information.

    Sources:
    http://www.ame-church.com/about-us/history.php
    http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81840_94837_ENG_HTM.htm

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    Posted by linda-allen on Tuesday September 9, 2008 at 8:28 PM

  4. abyt42
    abyt42 Teacher
    High School - 11th Grade

    The incorrect information was probably from the bookrags website. This morning it listed Crummell as the first African-American Episcopalian minister... (just so you know others have been misinformed as well.)

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    Posted by abyt42 on Monday September 15, 2008 at 5:50 AM

  5. walthall
    walthall

    Bookrags site? Perhaps that was where I saw it.

    In any event, I am glad we have clarified the matter,

    so that others will not be misinformed.

    Both Jones & Crummell deserve credit for their significant accomplishments. 

    Thank you,

    Charles Walthall 

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    Posted by walthall on Monday September 15, 2008 at 9:38 AM