When officials at St. George’s United Methodist Church pulled Richard Allen, Absalom Jones and other Black parishioners off their knees while praying in Philadelphia in 1787, they went on to form their own church, free of racial discrimination.
In a similar example of Black people shaking off the shackles of racial oppression, John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish, determined to “plead our own cause,” founded “Freedom’s Journal” in 1827, marking the start of the Black Press in America.
On Sunday, March 15, members of the Black Press will celebrate 199 years of perseverance, ingenuity and achievements during the annual worship service at D.C.’s historic Metropolitan AME Church, known as Black Press Sunday. The day will serve as a time to honor the heroic Black leaders who started the institution and the people who have kept it alive…