Richard Allen, Methodist Preacher

I am not sure how to gauge Early American race relations, so I am not sure if we can say that Methodism was more integrated than other institutions. Let's say this. In the early days, blacks and whites were together in worship in some places, especially some places that we have records for.

But that did not last long. Somehow or other, the initial enthusiasm that allowed folks to worship together gave way to segregation. The St. George Church in Philadelphia had been more or less integrated. But in 1787, pressure to segregate became more intense. Blacks, who had sat in the main gallery were not asked to sit in the balcony. The change in circumstance did not sit well and many black members walked out and began to worship separately.

Bishop Asbury appointed a separate place for them to worship, but the black Methodists were not keen to use the usual Methodist model of deeding the church property to the denomination; the only way they were going to have a church they could not be run out of was to have their own denomination, and so in 1796 an African Methodist Episcopal Church was formed, leading to a new denomination in 1816.

Richard Allen was the leader. He was a former slave who bought his freedom, and was converted under Methodist preaching, becoming a preacher himself, ordained by Bishop Asbury--preachign even at St. George's, the church he would need to leave later. Allen led many efforts to improver the lives of blacks, especially through the Free African Society, the first organization of its kind. He led the walkout from St. George's Church

I am not sure how Methodism has managed to handle its various splits. Where they seemed to start in some kind of rancor, generally good relations were preserved. But as time has passed, the Wesleyan Church, Free Methodist Church, AME Church, etc are pretty far away. not so much in theology, but in organizational ties. It's sad, because two pastoral colleagues I gain a lot from are AME pastors, esp Pastor E, who lets me "ear hustle" his sermons!

[historical information is from Norwood's Story of American Methodism]