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The Black Church was born in protest against slavery, against dehumanization of African people, brought to the American continent as cheap labor. Racist behavior of white American Christians forced Afro-Americans to exercise their God-given dignity and human worth and to create a separate church that was uniquely theirs." (Stokes 1973) Because of the apparent lack of understanding on the part of white Christians and the earnest seeking for liberation on the part of black Christians, there was developed a desperate need, not only for a Black Church, but for a Black Theology, a theology whose sole purpose is to apply the the freeing power of the gospel to black people under white oppression" (Cone p.31). A theology which translated the meaning of God's involvement in man's now experiences.

In 1786, Richard Allen, a former slave who had purchased his freedom and was a religious leader in the black community, had begun preaching frequently at the St. George Met ...