The Black Founding Fathers

"The Black Founding Fathers," an essay by Lerone Bennet, discusses the breaking away of Black Americans from white institutions. It all started with St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church, when Reverend Absalom Jones was told he could not kneel in the church. After the prayer was concluded the "first mass demonstration in black American history" began. Soon after this demonstration blacks from many other cities began to walk out of white institutions and established their own. With the formation of African societies, Black leaders emerged, Churches were established as well as fraternal orders, schools, and Black American culture. This was a time when Black Americans stopped following Whites and developed their own path.


Revelations: An Anthology of expository essays by and about blacks. pg. 105-109