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Free African Society

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Allen, Forten and Jones
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Profiles

  •
    James Forten (1766 - 1842)
    James Forten was a wealthy African-American businessman (sail maker) and abolitionist, born free in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Forten began experimenting with different types of sails for ships and fi...
  • Cyrus Bustill (1732 - 1806)
    Cyrus Bustill was an African-American brewer and baker, abolitionist and community leader. A notable business owner in the African-American community in Philadelphia, he also became a founding member ...
  • Absalom Jones (1746 - 1818)
    was an African-American abolitionist and clergyman who became prominent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Disappointed at the racial discrimination he experienced in a local Methodist church, he founded t...
  • Richard Allen (1760 - 1831)
    Richard Allen was born into slavery and owned by Chief Justice Benjamin Chew, Sr. . He was sold as a child to Stokely Sturgis who had a plantation in Delaware. Richard Allen (February 14, 1760 – March ...

The Free African Society (FAS), founded in 1787, was a benevolent organization that held religious services and provided mutual aid for "free Africans and their descendants" in Philadelphia. The Society was founded by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones. It was the first Black religious institution in the city and led to the establishment of the first independent Black churches in the United States.

Founding members, all free Black men, included Samuel Baston, Joseph Johnson, Cato Freedman, Caesar Cranchell, James Potter and William White. Notable members included African-American abolitionists such as Cyrus Bustill, James Forten, and William Gray.

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