Allen

The autobiography of Richard Allen begins again with a preface. Rev. Allen begins by pointing out that the vast majority of the stories in his autobiography were recorded from memory, long after they took place. This poses a question to the credibility of the stories of Rev. Allen. Also, Rev. Allen quite boastfully states that if he could “recollect the half of my trials…in this life…” his autobiography would be far too big for anyone to read. One major difference between Rev. Allen’s autobiography and Venture Smith’s is that Rev. Allen seems to be literate and wrote his autobiography himself.

                Allen begins his life story by telling the reader he was a slave. It was not until he was about twenty he realized he had no real purpose in life and sought to find God. Much like Cartwright, Allen was overwhelmed by sin and did not truly find God until he hits rock bottom. Allen joins the Methodist society, which, through Cartwright’s autobiography, we learned was in favor of abolishing slavery.

                I found it particularly interesting that Allen’s master was so nice. Stokeley (Allen’s master) was a father figure to Allen and his siblings (much like the farmer Venture briefly lived with) and allowed Allen and his family to attend religious meetings. Stokeley’s behavior was abnormal, as his neighbor’s felt that Stokeley spoiled his slaves and they would ultimately ruin him. Not wanting to fall prey to self-fulfilling prophecy, Allen and his brother vowed to work even harder so that they might continue their meetings and prove the neighbor’s wrong. Yet, I wonder if this is what Stokeley intended; if the slaves are happy, they will work harder. I did not understand the portion of the story when Stokeley would not write a note to the preacher. I think it was possibly because he didn’t want to get converted, as he was not a religious man. However, the preacher came and preached at the house for a few months and Stokeley ultimately felt compelled to free his slaves.

                Now a free man, Allen speaks of his travels and odd jobs he performed along the way, but his main reason for traveling was to preach and spread the Gospel. Allen traveled along the east coast, preaching in states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania, making many friends and acquaintances along the way, and touching many people’s lives with the word of God. This seems a bit odd to me, as I’m sure black preachers were few and far between at this point in time. Allen continues his story of spreading the word, and even tells of the opposition the Methodist church faced. This somewhat parallels Cartwright’s autobiography and his take on the opposition faced from the Predestinarians. However, Allen’s story is different in that his point of view is from that of a black preacher, whereas Cartwright’s is from that of a white preacher. Allen’s opposition also came from within the church itself.

                One story in particular is the time when the African-American’s attending St. George’s Church began to get numerous and they began to be treated differently. First, the African-Americans were not allowed to sit in their normal seats. Next, they were made to go into a different room, isolating them from the rest of the congregation. Finally, during prayer, Mr. Jones was asked to leave. When Mr. Jones refused to leave before prayer was over, he was threatened by being thrown out. However, upon finishing his prayer, Mr. Jones and the others left willingly, shaming the members of the congregation. Allen and the others faced much oppression from the Methodist church, which I find odd. The Methodist are wholeheartedly against Allen and the others establishing an African-American church. If I understood correctly, Allen was eventually able to finance a large building to establish a church, but was tricked into signing it over to the white Conference (what is the white conference?). Ultimately, this led Allen to pursue the union of Philadelphia and Baltimore in establishing the African Methodist Episcopal Church.