The Free African Society of Philadelphia, 1787: Its Preamble and Rules

In April 1787, Richard Allen and Absalom Jones founded the Free African Society in Philadelphia — a mutual aid organization serving the city's Black community, which received little help from anywhere else. The society cared for the sick and infirm, gave financial help to the families of members who died, and found apprenticeships for children. It also upheld the community's moral and family life.

The Preamble and Articles of Association as reprinted in the Rev. William Douglass's 1862 Annals of the First African Church (Wellesley College Library, via the Internet Archive; public domain).

What the society became

By 1791 the society had become an independent, nondenominational church for the community. Two new congregations followed:

• 1793: Absalom Jones founded the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, whose Friendly Society of St. Thomas Church soon took over the Free African Society's role.
• 1794: Richard Allen founded what became (Mother) Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, through which he continued to serve the community.

The preamble

The preamble explains how the society came about. Jones and Allen, "two men of the African race" of good religious reputation, had often talked together about forming a religious society for their people. But there were too few who shared their concern, and those who did disagreed about religion. After long discussion they proposed a society "without regard to religious tenets, provided, the persons lived an orderly and sober life, in order to support one another in sickness, and for the benefit of their widows and fatherless children."

The reprinted preamble is dated "12th, 4th mo., 1778," but that year is a misprint; the correct year is 1787.

The articles

The articles, dated the 17th of the fifth month, 1787, set out how the society worked:

• Dues and benefits. Members paid one shilling in silver Pennsylvania currency a month. After a year of subscriptions, any member in need could receive three shillings and nine pence a week — "provided, this necessity is not brought on them by their own imprudence."
• Conduct. No drunkard or disorderly person could join. A member who became disorderly and did not reform, after warning by two members, was put out and forfeited his dues.
• Unpaid dues. A member three months behind who, after warning and without good reason, failed to pay in full at the next meeting was likewise put out.
• Attendance. Missing a monthly meeting cost three pence — unless the member was sick or otherwise needed the society's help, in which case fines and dues were suspended.
• Widows. A deceased member's widow kept the society's benefits for as long as she remained his widow and followed its rules, without paying dues.
• Children. The society would pay for the schooling of deceased members' children if they could not attend the free school, and would apprentice them to suitable trades if needed.
• Governance. No member could call the society together; that was the committee's job, only on special occasions. The committee also managed the society's money — with approval at a monthly meeting — and handled all business except that of the clerk and treasurer.
• Clerk and treasurer. The members chose Joseph Clarke. His successors were always to be Quakers belonging to one of Philadelphia's three monthly meetings.

The signers who met to approve the articles were Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, Samuel Baston, Joseph Johnson, Cato Freeman, Caesar Cranchell and James Potter, with William White, whose early help and advice the members credited.

Sources

• National Park Service, Independence National Historical Park: "Preamble and Articles of Association for the Free African Society," with its transcript from William Douglass, Annals of the First African Church, in the United States of America, now styled the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, Philadelphia (Philadelphia: King & Baird, 1862).