| Chapter 1: | Pre-Twentieth-Century Roots of Pentecostalism |
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In 1623, “Anthony and Isabel, black servants of Captain William Tucker, and their child, William, were baptized at Jamestown.”34 Thus, the first known African American Christians in England’s American colonies embraced the Anglican, or Episcopal, faith. The transplantation of the Church of England to the Virginia colony may be seen as an expected occurrence because of the official connection between the Anglican Church and the English government. Beginning in 1619, the colony began officially supporting the Anglican Church with public funds. Accordingly, it was intimately connected to the government and subsequently failed to resist colonial efforts to strengthen proslavery policies. Over time the Episcopal Church, populated chiefly with elite, educated, wealthy landowners of the aristocracy, “treated the African slave with ambivalence.”35
Absalom Jones became pastor of St. Thomas’ African Episcopal Church in Philadelphia in 1794. It was the first parish of the church controlled by African Americans. Jones was the first African American minister ordained by a major American Christian denomination.36 Born into slavery in Delaware, he was not educated in Latin and Greek. Bishop White placed stipulations on his appointment as pastor of St. Thomas as a result. Jones was required to demonstrate basic proficiency in church polity and doctrine before he was fully ordained a priest of the Episcopal Church in 1802. Because of race, Jones was not allowed to participate in denominational government and St. Thomas could not send deputies to the church’s convention.
St. Philip’s Episcopal Church was an African American congregation formed in New York City in 1818. Its pastor, Peter Williams, preached against slavery and endorsed abolition.