Being First

Absalom Jones was the first African American to be ordained Priest in the Episcopal Church.  Born a slave in 1746 in Delaware, he learned to read with the words of the New Testament.  At the age of sixteen he was sold to a shop owner in Philadelphia, Pa.  At the age of twenty, he married Mary King also a slave.  With his earnings, he purchased his wife's freedom before his own so that their children would be born free.

Jones served as a "lay minister for Black membership," for St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church with his friend Richard Allen.  Under their leadership the Black membership of the church grew rapidly.  This rapid growth alarmed the vestry and they decided to segregate the Blacks into the upstairs gallery.  During a Sunday service ushers attempted to remove the Blacks assembled but the Blacks walked out together indignant.

Jones and Allen would continue their partnership as the overseers of the Free Africa Society (FAS), the first organized Afro-American society.  The FAS raised money, networked with African-Americans in other cities, spoke out against slavery and even worked on the issue of health care!

In 1792, the FAS decided to build a church, which was dedicated on July 17, 1794. The African Church applied for membership in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania and on October 1794 it was admitted as St. Thomas African Episcopal Church.  St. Thomas Church would grow to over 500 members in its first year.  Jones was ordained deacon in 1795 and as priest on September 21, 1802. 

Loved by his congregation and the surrounding community, Jones came to be known as the "Black Bishop of the Episcopal Church."  For Jones, God acted on "behalf of the oppressed and distressed."  Rev. Absalom Jones: slave, student, husband, liberator, founder, servant and priest.