ALLEN, RICHARD (176o-1831), American negro clergy man, was born of slave parents in Philadelphia, Pa., in i76o. Soon after his birth his parents were sold into slavery in Delaware. At 17 years of age he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church and when 22 years old was licensed to preach. Four years later (1786) he purchased his freedom for $2,000, Continental money, and returned to Philadelphia. Here he joined St. George's M.E.
Church in which he was permitted to preach to coloured people at 5 o'clock meetings. Dissatisfied with the restrictions placed upon those who attended these meetings, he decided to withdraw. He personally purchased a lot at the corner of 6th and Lombard streets, and moved upon it an old blacksmith shop which he re furbished as a house of worship. Here he organized in 1787 the first church for coloured people in the United States. His follow ers who congregated here were called Allenites. Despite opposi tion and a series of obstructive lawsuits, a charter was secured from the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. A new church build ing was erected and opened in 1794. It was dedicated by Bishop Francis Asbury (q.v.) and called Bethel. In 1799 Allen was regu larly ordained in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the first coloured minister so ordained. In 1816, upon the organi zation of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Allen was elected bishop. He died in Philadelphia on March 26, 1831.
See Centennial Encyclopaedia of the African Methodist Church (Philadelphia, 1916) .