| FT-53576-05 | Research Programs: Summer Stipends | Richard S. Newman | Black Founder: Richard Allen, African Americans, and the Early American Republic | 5/1/2005 - 7/31/2005 | $5,000.00 | Richard | S. | Newman | | | | RIT | Rochester | NY | 14623-5698 | USA | 2005 | U.S. History | Summer Stipends | Research Programs | 5000 | 0 | 5000 | 0 |
Richard Allen (1760-1831) remains a pivotal figure in African-American history. Although born a slave in colonial Philadelphia, Allen secured his freedom during the American Revolutionary era and became one of the leading black activists before the Civil War. His achievements were many: He co-founded both the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Free African Society in Philadelphia, two of the earliest independent black organizations formed anywhere in America; he published a half-dozen major addresses on racial reform during his lifetime, including the first patented pamphlet by an African-American writer in 1794; he led several major protest actions against slavery and racial injustice, particularly the struggle against forced repatriation of free blacks to Africa; and he served as the president of the inaugural free black convention in Philadelphia in 1830. |