LAUSR

Richard Allen, one of the authors of Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People during the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia, was born into slavery in 1760. Owned first by Benjamin Chew and then Stokely Sturgis, Allen experienced fair treatment by his own accounts but still yearned for his freedom. Allen would eventually purchase his freedom in the 1780s. After converting to Methodism, he traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he made ends meet by working as a shoemaker and preaching to African Americans at the St. George's Methodist Church (African Americans received their services separately from Whites).1 Absalom Jones, Allen's Narrative coauthor, was born a slave in 1746 and was eventually separated from his family through sale, ending up in Philadelphia at the age of 16 years. There he worked in a store, attended school, and eventually got married. He was manumitted in 1784.2 (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print August 15, 2019: e2-e3. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305244).