Pulpit and Politics: Clergy in American Politics at the Advent of the Millennium

19. African Methodist Episcopal Church

Following the end of the Civil War, the black church emerged as the dominant institution within black communities. Not only was the church central in the lives of African Americans, but it became the “womb of black culture” and mothered other major social institutions as well. It is difficult to underestimate the historical importance of black churches within the communal life of black Americans. The church contributed to the survival and liberation of enslaved and segregated African Americans. It provided comfort to and aided in the transition of those blacks who, looking for work, moved to the North in the Great Migration. It was the base for much of the civil-rights movement, and it continues to play an important role in efforts related to electoral politics . Thus, historically speaking, the black church has served as the central institution that empowers black people in the United States. This chapter examines the clergy of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the largest of the black Methodist denominations and the first denomination formed by African Americans. The group’s history involves several firsts. The AME is unique in that it is the first major religious denomination whose origin can be traced to sociological, rather than theological, differences (African American). It elected the 247 Chapter 19 African Methodist Episcopal Church Eric McDaniel first black bishop, Richard Allen, in 1816, and in 2000 the AME General Conference elected the first black female bishop. Finally, it might be noted that the first AME congregation, Bethel AME of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is still located on the oldest piece of land that has been continually owned by blacks in the United States. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Born out of protest, the roots of the African Methodist Episcopal Church can be traced to 1787 when numerous black members of the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC; known today as the United Methodist Church) became dissatisfied with the treatment of blacks and the practice of segregation within church services (Childs 1980; Lincoln and Mamiya 1990; Mead 1995; Cone 1997). The precipitating catalyst was a conflict that transpired in Philadelphia’s St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church: during a service in 1787, Absalom Jones, a black member, was pulled up from his knees because he was praying in the wrong part of the church. In response, several members of the congregation walked out, led by Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, and William White. These dissident members withdrew from the church in protest, built a chapel, and obtained their own black pastor. These particular actions by the dissidents were not initially intended to create a separate denomination. Rather, those involved styled themselves , for the most part, as African Methodists—they were of African descent and Methodists. Their desire was simply to implement freedom of worship and rid themselves of the humiliation of segregation, especially in church. Richard Allen established the first church within the “denomination ,” though almost three decades passed before the AME was eventually founded. It became clear that the AME was to be a distinct body, separate from the MEC, when, in 1816, Allen invited five other black Methodist churches that had formed under similar circumstances to join a General Convention in Philadelphia; the convention established the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Allen, in turn, became their first bishop. Although Allen broke with the MEC, he did not want to leave Methodism, as he believed that Methodism was the only faith that would fit the needs of blacks (Lincoln and Mamiya 1990). As a result, the young denomination accepted Methodist doctrine and discipline 248 African Methodist Episcopal Church Eric McDaniel 249 almost in its entirety. Both the tenets espoused by the church and the polity established by the denomination were detailed in The Book of Discipline, modeled after the original MEC (Lincoln and Mamiya 1990), with the AME denomination’s motto being “God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, Man Our Brother.” Thus, the split was based more on racial, rather than theological, grounds. The AME has a long history of focusing on education. Much of this emphasis on education was initiated through the work of Bishop Daniel Payne. Payne helped to create Wilberforce University, the first institution of higher education built by blacks in America. The AME supports other colleges as well as two seminaries: Payne Theological Seminary and Turner Theological Seminary (Lincoln and Mamiya 1990; Mead 1995). The denomination has also expanded its emphasis on education to the continent of Africa, where it...