Celebrating Black History Month - Absalom Jones, first African-American ordained Episcopal priest

Absalom Jones, born November 7, 1746, was the first African-American to be ordained as an Episcopal priest in the U.S.  Jones became a lay minister in an interracial church St. George's Methodist in Philadelphia and became one of the first African-Americans to preach in the Methodist Church.

In 1792, Absalom and other black members were told they could not join the rest  of the congregation and had to sit in the back and then on the balcony.  They all walked out.

Jones established a black congregation independent of  white control and still remain part of the Episcopal Church.  He successfully petitioned to open African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, the first black church in Philadelphia, July 17, 1794.  He was ordained as a priest  in 1804, the first African-American priest in the Episcopal Church.

He passed away February 13, 1818 and is listed on the Epsicopal calendar of Saints on the date  of his death.