Richard Allen, born February 14, 1760, in Philadelphia, was a minister, educator, writer, and one of America's most active and influential black leaders. Allen had six children and a wife named Sarah Bass. He founded the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in 1794, which was the first black rule in the United States. Allen was born a slave, he and his family were sold to a plantation in Delaware. At age 17, Allen joined the Methodists and Richard began teaching himself to read and write. The importance of the AME church founded by Allen had a great impact on society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original EssayThe AME Church changed and improved from Free Africa (community of people/all the good people of the world) in the late 18th century in Philadelphia. The first religious gathering took place approximately nine years before the Church was officially organized in 1794. While mistreatment was less dangerous/bad for free blacks in Philadelphia than in many other cities, the strong (treatment unfair based on skin color, age, etc.) of white Methodists served as a helping force for the new crowd with Richard Allen as pastor. A level of oversight was expected from the Church, and the hope was to create a system of checks and balances between white officials and black power. The White Methodists hoped to impress upon the new (energetic)/changing community that there were still limits to its independence. The difficult agreement collapsed when white Methodists threatened to prevent church meetings and used other strategies to discourage Bethel's self-authority and control. In 1807, Allen received legal aid and wrote an African supplement to the church's founding document that more strongly claimed independence while maintaining Bethel's inclusion in the Methodist Conference as an equal member. (Barga) Membership continued to grow as Bethel became known for its opposition. The first of the extremely important legal challenges brought before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court indirectly concerned the question of the reality/respect/truth of Bethel as an independent church. The case was lost by the mob before the end of 1815, but the court's treatment of Bethel was an independent matter. As a time and simpler legal test arrived around the start of 1816, 1807 added/option and Allen's right (to decide your future and then make sure it happens) as minister a been guaranteed/expressed as obvious. Bethel Church was enormously successful. By 1810, membership had grown from the original 40 members to nearly 400. The Church had become the most important institution in black Philadelphia (PBS.org). During its early years of struggle, the religious group had become known as a refuge for ethnic minorities, despite its notoriety for triumphing over the persecution of whites in the courts. In 1795, a gathering of recently freed people led by David Barclay touched base at a Jamaican mansion and joined the Bethel ethnic group. Allen and his family led the community in supporting strangers and travelers by providing them with housing, food, and other useful things/valuable supplies, especially black learners (working) and renters. The (something is given to future people) would spread as new AME churches were established, and many church buildings have secret basements that indicate/show their.