Dcn Leah Sandwell-Weiss

Dear friends,

On January 1, 1808, the Constitutional provision (Art. I, Section 9) ending the importation of slaves into the United States went into effect. That same day, the Rev’d Absalom Jones, a co-founder and priest at St. Thomas African Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, preached “A Thanksgiving Sermon,” tying God’s rescue of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt to the end of the slave trade in the United States. The sermon was printed in a pamphlet[*] and influenced pre-Civil War free black communities in turning this date into an important antislavery celebration day.

Rev’d Jones was born in slavery in 1746. His owner eventually sold his farm and property, including Jones’ family, when he was around 16 years old. His owner took Jones with him to Philadelphia, where he worked for his master in a store. While there, he attended a free black school, married and bought his wife’s freedom, and eventually, after several years of trying, bought his own freedom in 1784.

In 1786 Jones became a licensed Methodist lay preacher at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church, and the following year founded the Free African Society (FAS) with Richard Allen, another recently freed slave. Later that year, however, he and Allen walked out of St. George’s after the sexton tried to physically move them to the balcony, where the Vestry had recently decided that black members should be seated. Most of the other black members walked out, too.

In the next few years, Jones and Allen served a congregation made up of many freedmen and women. They also responded to a public health crisis in 1793 when a yellow fever epidemic ravaged Philadelphia. While many wealthy and powerful white citizens fled, black residents, including Jones and Allen, were asked to stay to nurse and bury those who got sick. A white author then wrote a pamphlet accusing blacks who stayed of stealing from and extorting the sick. Jones and Allen then published the first copyrighted pamphlet by blacks in the U.S., responding to the libel and explaining the work done by blacks in saving the community. They boldly stated, “Is it a greater crime for a black to pilfer, than for a white to privateer?”

In 1794, the congregation applied for membership in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania on the following conditions:  “1) that they be received as an organized body; 2) that they have control over their own local affairs; 3) that Absalom Jones be licensed as lay reader, and, if qualified, be ordained as a priest.” After approval by the diocese, The African Church of St. Thomas was dedicated in October of that year. Jones was ordained a deacon the next year and eventually ordained a priest in 1802, the first black priest ordained in the United States. He preached and taught in this church and led the black community in Philadelphia for the remainder of his life. It’s clear through the research I’ve done that Jones was a fighter for justice all his life, which we honor today, the 205th anniversary of his death.

Set us free, O heavenly Father, from every bond of prejudice and fear; that, honoring the steadfast courage of thy servant Absalom Jones, we may show forth in our lives the reconciling love and true freedom of the children of God, which thou hast given us in thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

—Dcn Leah

[*][*] It’s available through the Wayback Machine, at https://web.archive.org/web/20080704142415/http://antislavery.eserver.org/religious/absalomjones/religious/absalomjones/absalomjones.html.