Freedom's Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers

Preface and Acknowledgments

Preface and Acknowledgments “Brave!” “Ingenious!” “Tactical!” “Brilliant!” High school students were shouting out words that best described Richard Allen’s 1799 eulogy of George Washington. I had asked them to pick just one word to characterize Allen’s speech, hoping that this little task would create the beginnings of a broader discussion on African American protesters during the American Revolutionary era. A graduate-school friend who directed a wonderful program of one-day sessions at Strong Museum in Rochester for advanced-placement high school students had put me in front of the group of about sixty kids from different schools. I handed out my document, crossed my fingers, and hoped that someone would raise a hand to start the discussion. About forty-five minutes later, I could barely get them to stop debating Allen’s ideology, strategy, literary style, and political goals. “You should write a book about him,” one of the teachers whispered to me as the students filed out of the room. This book is my attempt to build on that wonderful discussion about a black founder and his world a few years ago in a Rochester classroom. “I was afraid this would happen.” Now the words came from my great editor at NYU Press, Deborah Gershenowitz, who had to put up with yet another request for an extension on the book. “Why can’t biographers just let go of their subjects?!” She laughed when she said it, but Deb was right: it’s tough to spend years with a biographical subject and then let go. I always had great excuses—I found a new source, I faced a new question, I just wanted to tweak a chapter one last time. One of the best things about finishing a book, of course, is the opportunity to thank the many people who helped make it possible. Learning about Richard Allen and his world has been revelatory. But working in some of America’s best research libraries, and getting savvy advice from great friends and scholars, has been similarly fulfilling. It is a pleasure to say thank you in print. ix Let me begin by offering thanks to the people who helped get Freedom ’s Prophet off the ground. John Paul Dyson and Joan Hoffman at Rochester’s Strong Museum allowed me to teach in their amazing AP history program several times, including that first session on Richard Allen. Students and teachers from several Rochester high schools helped me to see that a broader audience might be interested in Allen’s story. My editors at NYU Press quickly and enthusiastically agreed to the proposed biography, for which I’m grateful. Once again, Allison Waldenberg got me started before leaving for greener pastures. Deb Gershenowitz seamlessly assumed control of the project, waited patiently as I did more research, prodded me to finish at the right moment, and then offered an exacting but encouraging reading of the entire manuscript. She’s been a terrific editor and now friend. Andrew Katz copyedited the manuscript with care and kindness, and Despina Papazoglou Gimbel expertly saw the project through production. Several institutions and organizations offered critical financial support . The National Endowment for the Humanities provided a “We the People” Summer Stipend that facilitated research and writing at a key moment. A short-term fellowship at the American Philosophical Society allowed me to study the Wesley Church breakaway movement in depth. An associate fellowship at Yale’s Gilder Lehrman Center allowed me to examine Allen’s emigrationist thought in more detail. That fellowship also introduced me to one of the most collegial and important scholarly environments for the study of race and slavery that I have ever had the pleasure of being around. Thanks to Rob Forbes, Tom Thurston, and Dana Schaffer for many fine conversations there. A special thanks to the GLC’s directors, past and present: David Brion Davis and David Blight, respectively, each of whom proved gracious and intellectually welcoming on my several visits to New Haven. The Library Company of Philadelphia remains my scholarly home away from home—and one of my favorite places in the world. Since I began working on Freedom’s Prophet, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time there, first as a Society for Early American Historians short-term fellow, then as director of an NEH Summer Seminar for School Teachers on Abolitionism, and most recently as co-organizer of a major conference on Atlantic Emancipations. Every time I return, I’m reminded of the...