Author

Richard Allen and Absalom Jones

Black Philadelphia church founders who documented the 1793 yellow fever epidemic

About Richard Allen and Absalom Jones

Richard Allen (1760-1831) and Absalom Jones (1746-1818) were Black religious leaders in Philadelphia and founders of major independent Black church institutions. Allen later founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, while Jones became the first Black Episcopal priest in the United States. Their 1794 pamphlet answered accusations against Black Philadelphians after the yellow fever epidemic.

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A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People During the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia

Richard Allen and Absalom Jones

1794 · 18th Century · History

A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People During the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia is one of the most important public-health and Black-authored documents of the early United States. Written by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones after the devastating yellow fever epidemic of 1793, it answers Mathew Carey's published accusations that Black Philadelphians profited from disaster or behaved badly during the crisis.

high medical relevanceRace SlaveryIllness / BodyJustice Law