What is now Pennsylvania was originally settled by Dutch and Swedish migrants. They imported African slaves as early as 1639.
In 1681, William Penn obtained a charter from King Charles II to establish the colony of Pennsylvania. As a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers) he wanted a place where all races and religions could co-exist.
At the time, European Protestants and Catholics persecuted each other, and both groups persecuted the Jews. Quakers were unpopular because they spoke out against this, as well as advocating for the equal rights of women.
Penn put his words into action by insisting on the fair treatment of Native Americans in Pennsylvania. Land could not be stolen from them and they were to be given equal rights.
Penn wrote a constitution that limited government power and ensured many fundamental liberties.
Yet he did not ban slavery, though many Quakers had spoken out against it as early as the 1600s. In fact, in Pennsylvania, even some Quakers initially owned slaves.
Anti-slavery movement gains strength
Things started to change after The Great Awakening which swept the colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. Fiery preachers spoke to massive audiences, often lambasting the evil of slavery.
By the 1750s, Quakers, along with German immigrants, the Baptists, and the Methodists, were speaking out vociferously against both slavery and the slave trade.
Quakers formed the first anti-slavery organizations in both North America and Britain. They not only worked to free the slaves — they also worked to care for them after they became free. The helped provide economic aid, educational opportunities, and political access to former slaves.
They worked not just in Pennsylvania, but also across much of New England and the mid-Atlantic states as well as Virginia to eliminate slavery. From the 1770s to the 1860s, they often led the abolitionist movement.
During the American Revolution, Pennsylvania passed the Gradual Abolition Act in 1780. The first such law in the nascent United States, it freed children born to enslaved mothers.
Philadelphia a hub for free blacks
In the first two decades of the American Republic, the country was still inspired by revolutionary ideals. Many slave owners in places like Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina freed their slaves. In the northern states, slavery was largely abolished.
Philadelphia attracted many of these freed blacks, becoming a center of free black society. After the Haitian Revolution, it also attracted black refugees from Saint-Domingue. It also continued to attract fugitive slaves from the South.
The Free African Society
In 1787, an organization was formed to assist free blacks living in Philadelphia. Called the Free African Society (FAS), it was run by and for free black people. It provided both religious services and mutual aid.
Members had to agree to pay monthly dues. While they could have any religious affiliation, they had to agree to be temperate and avoid disorderly behavior.
Its religious leanings are unsurprising given that two of its founders, Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, became preachers.
Allen was born a slave in Philadelphia in 1760. He bought his freedom and founded the African Methodist Episcopalian Church. He became its first bishop.
Jones was born a slave in 1746 and freed in 1784. He was the first African-American to be ordained an Episcopal priest.
Other notable members of the society included abolitionists such as William Gray, James Forten, and Cyrus Bustill.
FAS helped Philadelphia during the Yellow Fever Epidemic
In addition to looking after their spiritual needs, the Free African Society also looked after its members material needs. It provided financial aid to widows and orphans, helped black children find apprenticeships to learn a trade, and paid tuition for its members’ children if they needed it.
Over time, the number of people helped by the FAS grew. Members who became unemployed or sick were helped. New black arrivals to the city were helped to feel welcome, expanding the scope of those the society helped to non-members.
This aid grew further during the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793.
FAS members nursed the sick in the city, dug graves, and helped bury the dead. They also helped transport the ill to facilities outside the city so they could be quarantined and cared for. While many of these facilities were makeshift places, such as large barns offered by their owners to house patients, there were many volunteers, both black and white, to help care for the sick.
The Schism and its aftermath
Not everyone was happy with the nondenominational nature of the FAS. Allen, a Methodist, broke away in 1794. He founded the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Many members of the FAS followed him there while others went to Absalom Jones’ African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas.
While the FAS was disbanded, it led to the creation of many similar African American mutual aid societies. It also contributed to the growth of Philadelphia’s growing free black community as former members bought houses and opened shops, businesses, and schools close to the churches founded by Jones and Allen.
I am fighting stage IV cancer. If you can help with medical bills, I would really appreciate it. Or if you enjoy my writing and would like to buy me a cup of coffee, that’s great too. Maybe someday I can return the favor.
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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.
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