The African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas (AECST) was founded in 1792 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, as the first black Episcopal Church in the United States. Its congregation developed from the Free African Society, a non-denominational group formed by blacks who had left St. George's Methodist Church because of discrimination and segregation by class. They were led by Absalom Jones, a free black and lay Methodist preacher. As his congregation became established, he was ordained in 1802 by Presiding Bishop William White as the first black priest in the Episcopal Church. Bishop White also ordained William Levington as a deacon at this church, although he soon became a missionary in the South, establishing St. James Church in Baltimore in 1824. The congregation remains within the

Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania The Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America encompassing the counties of Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Chester and Delaware in the state of Pennsylvania. The Diocese has 36,641 ...

—although, as discussed below, its location changed several times. St. Thomas became a leading institution in Philadelphia's black cultural life. Its second rector was William Douglass, an African American, former student of Rev. Levington, and an

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

. Clergy and parishioners were active in the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

in the 19th century, and participated in the modern

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

in the mid to late 20th century. St. Thomas was the first black church in the country to purchase a

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks' ...

, and the first to hire a black woman as organist, who was Ann Appo. Other notable organists were

John C. Bowers John C. Bowers (February 9, 1811 – October 5, 1873) was an African American entrepreneur, organist and vestryman at St. Thomas African Episcopal Church, and a founding member of the first Grand United Order of Odd Fellows for African Americans ...

and his brother, Thomas J. Bowers.

Location

While the congregation has worshipped in several different buildings, it has remained continuously active since its founding. The site of the original building, dedicated on July 17, 1794, at Fifth and Adelphi streets, is now covered by the passageway/plaza known as St. James Place. It also worshipped for a time on Twelfth Street south of Walnut Street, before following changing demographics and moving out of the downtown area to

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...

, where the congregation worshipped at 57th and Pearl streets, and 52nd and Parrish streets. It then moved to Philadelphia's Overbrook Farms neighborhood, where it currently worships at a church at the intersection of Overbrook and Lancaster avenues

References

External links

Official website

African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas records
from th

{{Authority control African-American churches African-American history in Philadelphia Churches in Philadelphia Religious organizations established in 1792 1792 establishments in Pennsylvania

Location

See also

References

External links