Overview

Where did African Methodism originate, and why did it take the various forms we observe today? The answers to these fundamental questions lie in the pre-Civil War history of America and the development of Methodism itself. Slaves to Bishops examines the critical role the Methodist Episcopal Church played in the formation of African Methodism, particularly under the leadership of Bishop Francis Asbury. The first Black Methodist bishops were all ordained by Asbury, and all but one had been enslaved. As Americans increasingly embraced democratic ideals, African American Methodists expressed their spiritual and social aspirations in multiple, often overlooked, institutional forms. While the division led by Richard Allen is well known, it has frequently been oversimplified. This book offers a detailed account of this period and brings to light the unique establishment of the Delaware Conference as the first Black church body recognized as equal to white Methodist annual conferences. The celebration of the 1844 division of the Church over abolition has also overshadowed the growth of Southern African Methodism into the largest Black Methodist body before 1860. Meanwhile, the Northern Methodist Church ceased reporting its Black membership and did not elect a Black American bishop until 1920. There was never only one way to be a Black Methodist in America. This is their early story.

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