Absalom Jones, co-founder and first pastor of Philadelphia's African Methodist Episcopal Church, preached a sermon on that day, in which he proposed that the day "be set apart every year ...

Absalom Jones did not earn his freedom until the age of 38. As a child he was a servant in his master's house, where he learned to read. In 1770, at age 23, he wed fellow slave Mary. The two ...

Absalom Jones, to his feet as Jones knelt in prayer. Cavaness is the first woman to lead Mother Bethel. A fourth-generation preacher, Cavaness, 41, long knew she was going to enter the ministry.

And that is what led to Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and others leaving St. George's and founding what became the A.M.E. Church. In 1830, right before Allen dies, he hosts the first colored ...