The founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church will be the next face you see on the USA forever stamps.
The United States Postal Service unveiled Richard Allen’s stamp on Feb. 2.
“We give God the praise for the ministry of Bishop Richard Allen, which has impacted the entire world,” said the Right Rev. Preston W. Williams. Williams leads the Sixth Episcopal district. “This a great honor for someone who is very deserving. When he launched the AME connection, it is unlikely he would have envisioned how it has grown until this day.”
Allen was born as a slave in 1790, according to PBS. Later on, Allen bought his own freedom and traveled along the Eastern seaboard preaching the gospel, eventually settling in Pennsylvania.
According to bio.com, Allen became the first African-American to be ordained in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Allen also co-founded the Free African Society, a nondenominational religious mutual aid society for the black community. Eventually, this society grew into the African Church of Philadelphia. Allen continued his Methodist ministry, and seven years later, in 1794, founded Bethel, which became the “Mother” church of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first independent black denomination, according to PBS.
Allen then successfully sued in the Pennsylvania courts in 1807 and 1815 for the right of his congregation to exist as an independent institution, according to the AME church website.
More than 200 years later, the AME church has membership in 20 Episcopal Districts in 39 countries across five continents, according to their website.
