Date: February 11, 2009

Richard Newman, author of “Freedom’s Prophet,” speaks about Reverend Richard Allen, founder and first Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. He was the founder of the Mother Bethel Church in Philadelphia, and was a noted “bleeder” who provided medical assistance during the black plague in 1793. For more than thirty years, Allen, who was born a slave, operated a station on the Underground Railway for escaping slaves. This event was sponsored by the RHS, the Library, and two other local organizations, and is part of the celebration of the Library’s Bicentennial.