The Reverend James C. Simmons, M. Div.

, Pastor

Black History is More than Slavery

On February 2, 2016, the United Postal Service released a stamp of one of our nations often forgotten
founders, Bishop Richard Allen. Born a slave on February 14, 1760, Allen purchased his freedom and
later founded what noted sociologist W.E.B. DuBois called the greatest Negro organization in the
world, the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. But the birth of the A.M.E. Church
represents more than the creation of a new denomination. It represents a peoples quest to hurl defiance
at racism and to hold this nation to the truth that all men are created equal.
The birth of the A.M.E. Church is the first civil rights movement in the United States. In 1787 black
worshippers that knelt in prayer at St. Georges Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, PA were
forced off their knees and told to pray in another section constructed for the churchs black members. In
response to this sinful act, Allen and others walked out and transformed elements of their mutual
benevolent association called the Free African Society into the A.M.E. Church. Mother Bethel, A.M.E.
Church, now the oldest parcel of land continuously owned by African Americans in the United States,
worked to end slavery, created schools for its children, and paved the road for future A.M.E.s that
attacked racism like Denmark Vesey, Madame C.J. Walker, Henry McNeal Turner, Rosa Parks, Daisy
Bates, Reverdy Ransome, A. Philip Randolph and so many others.
How unfortunate it is that the feats of men and women like Richard Allen and other black people that
have struck fierce blows at racism are more often than not erased from our textbooks and collective
consciousness.
In a University of Pittsburgh study entitled Parental Racial Socialization as a
Moderator of the Effects of Racial Discrimination on Educational Success among African American
Adolescents its authors contend that children who are racially conscious are better protected from
discriminations poison and are better poised to experience increased academic success. In other words
to teach black children about the black DNA that courses in their veins is to prepare them to excel in
their future.
Proverbs 22:6 states, Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart
from it. For black people this scripture has always meant more than a childrens Bible lesson. To train
up a child means to teach our children that white history is not the default history and black history is
much more than slavery. To train up a child means to teach our children that they are more than a
negative stereotype or statistic perpetuated in media. To train up a child means to teach our children that
they are the seeds of a strong and resilient people that built this nation. To train up a child means to
teach our children they are the descendants of Richard Allen and so many others whose eyes saw
beyond their own time.
550 Meigs Street, Rochester, New York 14607
Phone: 585-461-1395 | Fax: 585-271-6429 | www.BaberRochester.org

THERE IS NOTHING TOO HARD FOR GOD!