From Slavery to the Pulpit: The rise of Absalom Jones as first ordained African American priest, by Gift Luckson
Abraham Jones (November 7, 1746 – February 13, 1818) was an African-American abolitionist and clergyman who became prominent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Life of Absalom Jones
Disappointed at the racial discrimination he experienced in a local Methodist church, he founded the Free African Society with Richard Allen in 1787, a mutual aid society for African Americans in the city.
The Free African Society included many people newly freed from slavery after the American Revolutionary War.
In 1794, Jones founded the first Black Episcopal congregation, and in 1802, he was the first African American to be ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church of the United States.
He is listed on the Episcopal calendar of saints. He is remembered liturgically on the date of his death, February 13, in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer as “Absalom Jones, Priest, 1818”.
Born into Slavery
Absalom Jones was born into slavery in Sussex County, Delaware, in 1746. When he was sixteen, his enslaver sold him, his mother, and his siblings to a neighbouring farmer.
That year, the farmer kept Absalom but sold his mother and siblings and moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he became a merchant.
Absalom was allowed to attend Benezet’s School, where he learned to read and write. While still enslaved by Mr Wynkop (who was a vestryman of Christ Church and later St. Peter’s), Absalom married Mary King (an enslaved woman owned by S. King, a neighbour to the Wynkoops), on January 4, 1770. Rev. Jacob Duché performed the wedding ceremony.
The Road to Freedom
By 1778, Absalom had purchased his wife’s freedom so their children would be free; he asked for aid through donations and loans. (According to colonial law, children took the status of their mother, so children born to enslaved women were enslaved from birth).
Absalom also wrote to his enslaver seeking his freedom but was initially denied.
Later, Jones applied for his freedom for the second time. Finally, on October 1, 1784, inspired by revolutionary ideals, Wynkoop manumitted Absalom. Absalom adopted the surname “Jones” as an indication of his American identity.
Priesthood
After being released from slavery, Absalom was ordained as a priest in September 1802.
This made him the first Black person to be ordained in America by a well-known religion.
Death and Legacy
Jones died on February 13, 1818, in Philadelphia. He was initially interred in the St. Thomas Churchyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
His body was relocated to Lebanon Cemetery and then to Eden Cemetery. In 1991, his remains were exhumed, cremated and placed in a reliquary in the Absalom Jones altar of the current African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas (now located at 6361 Lancaster Avenue in Philadelphia).
The chapel is named in his honour, as is the church’s rectory. The national Episcopal Church remembers his life and service annually with a Lesser Feast on the anniversary of his death, February 13.
The Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania honours his memory with an annual celebration and award.
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