HISTORICAL STATEMENT - To the Members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church:

Beloved Brethren: We deem it necessary to prefix our Book of Discipline with a brief statement of our rise and progress, which we hope will be satisfactory and conducive to our growth and edification in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ as African Methodists.

In November, 1787, the colored people belonging to the Methodist Society in Philadelphia convened together in order to take into consideration the evils under which they labored, arising from the unkind treatment of their white brethren, who considered them a nuisance in the house of worship, and even pulled them off their knees while in the act of prayer and ordered them to the back seats. For these and various other acts of unchristian conduct, they considered it their duty to devise a plan in order to build a house of their own in which they could worship God under their own vine and fig tree. In this undertaking they met with great opposition from an elder of the Methodist Church (J. M. C.), who threatened that if they did not give up the building, erase their names from the subscription paper, and make acknowledgements for having attempted such a thing, that in three months they would all be publicly expelled from the Methodist Society. Not considering themselves bound to obey this injunction, and being fully satisfied that they would be treated without mercy, they sent in their resignations.

Being now as outcasts, they had to seek for friends where they could. The Lord put it into the hearts of Dr. Benjamin Rush, Mr. R. Ralston, and other respectable citizens to interpose for them, both by advice and assistance, in getting their building finished. Bishop White also aided them, and ordained one from among themselves, after the order of the Protestant Episcopal Church, to be their Pastor.