On this date in 1791, the groundbreaking for the Bethel AME Church of Philadelphia occurred. Mother Bethel Church (as it is called) was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Bethel AME is the second-oldest Black congregation after St. Thomas AME of Philadelphia.
The ground on which Mother Bethel stands is the oldest parcel of real estate owned by African Americans in the United States. The second, Prince Hall Masonic Lodge, was founded in that location. Lucretia Mott, abolitionist and women's rights advocate, journalist Frederick Douglass, and William Still, a key figure behind the Underground Railroad, were among those who spoke from the rostrum at Mother Bethel.
Ben Franklin contributed money to the African Methodist Episcopal Church. A female Mother Bethel preacher, Jarena Lee, was one of the first black women to speak publicly against slavery. Breaking ground that day were Absalom Jones and Richard Allen.
The Encyclopedia of African American Heritage
by Susan Altman
Copyright 1997, Facts on File, Inc. New York
ISBN 0-8160-3289-0
