The Beginning and The End
Where the Free African Society was started.
What is Philadelphia?
Who was allowed in to the FAS?
To be in the FAS you had to maintain upright and moral behavior and no drunkenness or disorderly behavior would be tolerated.
What did black caretakers do during the fever?
Nurses and caretakers worked as everything from housekeepers, to gravediggers for the whites.
Who made the statements which made the community perceive blacks in a worse manner?
Matthew Carey made statements which presented the Free African Society in a bad light saying they were poor and were using the fever for an exploitive service.
The Free African Society was the first __ __ institution in the city and led to the establishment of the first independent __ __
The Free African Society was the first Black religious institution in the city and led to the establishment of the first independent Black Churches
When was the Free African Society started?
April 17th, 1787
Members of the society had to maintain a strong sense of what?
Mortality
How many blacks ended up dying during the fever?
Benjamin Rush's theory was proven wrong when blacks ended up dying in a similar percentage to the whites.
They started the Free African Society.
Who is Richard Allen and Absalom Jones?
What was the religion of the members of the Free African Society?
Some members had different religious beliefs than others but the majority of people were affiliated with the Episcopal Church or were Staunch Methodists.
What gave Richard Allen, Absalom Jones and other black people motive to start the Free African Society?
Richard Allen and Absalom Jones rejected the second-class status that black people would be forced into at their white-dominated Methodist church. They, as well as other blacks, did not want to sit segregated from others, so, they created a group to meet African-American needs.
Why did they have mutual aid?
They designed mutual aid to support orphans, widows, the sick, the poor, and newly freed slaves, they also provided monetary support.
Based on Benjamin Rush's belief that blacks could not get yellow fever, what did the mayor do?
The mayor of Philadelphia called the Free African Society to help the community by getting nurses to take care of the sick or to bury the dead.
He believed black people had a very little chance of getting yellow fever.
Who was Benjamin Rush?
What did the FAS believe in?
They wanted to provide a safe place of worship, fellowship and support for African Americans.
Why did they start the Free African Society?
They started it to provide a place of worship, to aid newly freed blacks so they could become stronger and become better leaders in the community.
What group did the Free African Society have a number of?
Quakers
How did the Free African Society respond to Matthew Careys statements?
A Priest, writer, and educator who was born into slavery, later in life he bought his freedom. He founded the first national Black church in the United States, the African Methodist Church, he later became a founder of the FAS.
Who was Richard Allen?
What was the name of the church that Absalom Jones founded?
The African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas
How did the Free African Society come to an end?
They were unable to handle their overwhelming debts. They did not have financial support from outside the society.
What was the outcome from the FAS?
In the end the Free African Society allowed for more willingness for blacks to be in larger groups and communities as well as took away some of the fears, and bigoted opinions of some white people.
How were the blacks credited for their help?
They weren't, in fact, many portrayed the blacks to be greedy, money-hungry people who took the yellow fever as an opportunity for money.
Born into slavery and taught himself to read, he worked as a merchant and was able to marry another slave and buy their freedoms. Joined the St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church where he met Richard Allen, later became a founder of the FAS
Who was Absalom Jones?
What is the name of the church that Richard Allen founded?
The African Methodist Episcopal Church.