A long-overdue biography of Richard Allen, founder of the first major African-American church and the leading black activist of the early American republic
Preface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: A Black Founder's Many Worlds 1 "For Zion's Sake ... I Will Not Rest" 2 Gospel Labors3 The Year of the Fever, Part 1: A (Deceptively) Simple Narrative of the Black People4 The Year of the Fever, Part 2: Allen's Antislavery Appeal 5 "We Participate in Common": Allen's Role as a Black Mediator6 A Liberating Theology: Establishing the AME Church 7 Stay or Go? Allen and African Colonization 8 Allen Challenged: Shadow Politics and Community Con?ict in the 1820s 9 A Black Founder's Expanding Visions 10 Last Rights Conclusion: Richard Allen and the Soul of Black Reform Notes Index About the Author
Richard Newman is Professor of History at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. He is the author of The Transformation of American Abolitionism: Fighting Slavery in the Early Republic and co-editor of the series, Race in the Atlantic World, 1700–1900.
"Newman sees Richard Allen as a black founding father, engaged in developing a nation within a nation, joining blacks to one another in separate institutions within the new republic. It has been a continuing challenge in which charismatic preachers have had a central role." The New York Review of Books "In this elegant and insightful biography, historian Newman (The Transformation of American Abolitionism) offers a vivid portrait of Bishop Richard Allen...Newman's beautifully written study is not only a first-rate social history of the early Republic and African-American culture and religion, it provides a detailed sketch of Allen that is sure to become the definitive biography of the leader." Publishers Weekly Starred Review "Newman offers an incredibly detailed and astute look at Allen both in the context of religion and in the broader context of American History and philosophy on equality ... Newman portrays a man driven by a moral and philosophical impulse for racial justice, evolving as he faced personal, religious, and leadership challenges, as well as the broader national challenge of living up to a creed of equality at a time when the Founding Fathers fell short of those ideals." Booklist Starred Review "This is an exuberantly written book that shows how much more we can learn about some eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century black figures." American Historical Review "A rich, imaginative, and probably definitive portrait of Richard Allen...Newman makes a convincing case that Allen deserves the iconic status of 'Founding Father' as much as Washington or Jefferson. Highly recommended." Choice
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