Abstract
The first hymnal compiled expressly for the use of a black congregation was published in 1801. Entitled A Collection of Spiritual Songs and Hymns, Selected from Various Authors, it was printed for Richard Allen, who is identified on the titlepage as “African Minister.” Now Richard Allen is justly celebrated as the founder of the world’s first black Christian denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which he served as the first bishop, and for his civil-rights activities in Philadelphia, but little attention has been given to his pioneering role in laying the foundation for black-American hymnody. The story of the origin of Bethel A.M.E. Church of Philadelphia, which moved into its own building in July 1794, is so well known that it does not require retelling here. Without any doubt, Bethel was a singing congregation from the beginning, and by 1801 would have developed a basic repertory of its favorite hymns. Allen himself would have introduced many hymns to his fledgling flock, hymns that he had picked up during his several years as an itinerant Methodist exhorter before settling in Philadelphia. On the road he came into contact not only with Methodist preachers but also those belonging to Baptist and other sects, and he tucked away in his memory things that later would prove to be useful to him as an “African minister.”