Bishop Richard Allen Documentary Now Available On DVD

June 8, 2011 - PRLog -- THE FIRST EVER DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE LIFE OF BISHIP RICHARD ALLEN, CHURCH FOUNDER AND ABOLITIONIST, is now available for sale at Mother Bethel AME Church located at 419 South 6th Street in Philadelphia. You can also purchase your copy of the DVD from the church’s online gift store at http://www.motherbethel.org/church_store.php  (there is a small shipping and handling fee). The film, Bishop Richard Allen Apostle of Freedom debuted online on February 13, 2011. More than three million AME church members on five continents logged on and watched the film and hosted “watch parties” at their churches and homes. The world online premiere was made possible by a generous grant from The D’Brickashaw Ferguson Foundation (www.dibrickashawfergusonfoundation.org) .  Bishop Richard Allen Apostle of Freedom is a 23 minute docudrama that was produced by Mother Bethel AME Church (www.MotherBethel.org) thanks to a generous gift from The Lomax Family Foundation (Dr. Walter Lomax, owner of LEVAS Communications which owns WURD-AM). “This is the first high quality, PBS style documentary on the life of Bishop Allen, arguably one of America’s founding fathers,” says Mother Bethel’s pastor the Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, PhD., who also served as Executive Producer, Producer and writer for the film. The docudrama was filmed in Philadelphia by Sam Katz and “History Making Productions” (www.historymakingproductions.com).  Bishop Richard Allen Apostle of Freedom was shot with Philadelphia area actors, and extras who are members of both Mother Bethel AME Church (the congregation Bishop Allen started in 1794) and Historic St. George’s UMC (the church that Allen walked out of because of racial segregation). The short film tells the story of Bishop Allen adapted from his autobiography.  The Bishop Allen character narrates the film as the voice of Bishop Allen. He also re-enacts historic moments in Bishop Allen’s life including the infamous ‘walk-out’ from St. George’s United Methodist Church due to racial segregation. The intense scene was actually filmed in the balcony of Historic St. George’s. The film also has expert analysis from AME scholars and leaders including Bishop Richard Franklin Norris, who oversees the First Episcopal District; Dr. Dennis Dickerson, Historiographer of the AME Church; and Richard Newman author of the most recent Allen biography. The film’s original score was composed by Grammy-award winning producer Phil Davis of PhD Productions in Atlanta Georgia.  There are also solo selections by rising opera star J’Nai Bridges and choral selections by The Wilberforce University Choir under the direction of Jeremy Winston.
For more information about purchasing the documentary on DVD go to www.MotherBethel.org or call (215) 925-0616.


About Bishop Richard Allen


Born as a slave to Colonial Chief Justice Benjamin Chew, owner of the Cliveden Estate in Germantown, Allen later purchased his freedom from a Delaware slave owner who bought him as a child. He went on to distinguish himself as more than just a church leader. He hauled salt for the Continental Army during the American Revolution; he acted bravely in caring for the dying and burying the dead in the Yellow Fever Outbreak of 1793; he and Absalom Jones were the holders of the first copyright by African Americans when they published their rebuttal to Matthew Carey's account of the Yellow Fever Outbreak; he was a successful entrepreneur, claiming George Washington's Executive Mansion on 6th and Market Streets as a customer of his chimney sweep business; he opened his doors to those fleeing slavery on what would become known as the Underground Railroad as an Abolitionist; he organized one of the first major protests by African Americans when 3,000 people gathered at Mother Bethel Church to denounce the American Colonization Society's plan to send free Blacks to Africa; and, he had an active correspondence with the president of Haiti to the point that he sent missionaries to that nation in the 1820s to help them organize build infrastructure.  
Bishop Allen is most known for his bold act of independence against the racial and religious intolerance of his time when he walked out of the segregated pews at St. George's Methodist Church in the late 1700s. This act ultimately led to the establishment of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1816, which grew out of Mother Bethel and similar congregations in the northeast. This was America's first denomination established by African Americans and Allen became the first Bishop.

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Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church was founded in 1794 by Bishop Richard Allen and is settled on the longest, continuously owned land by African Americans in the United States.

Sunday Worship: 8am & 11am

Church School : 9:30am

Bible Study: Tuesdays 7pm, Wednesdays 11am

Richard Allen Museum Hours: Sunday After Service, Monday by Appointment,
Tuesdays - Saturdays from 10am-3pm or by appointment

Overflow parking on Sunday's and for most special events at McCall Elementary School located at 325 South 7th Street across the street from the church. Lot is accessible from 7th Street, one half block north of Pine St.

www.MotherBethel.org
Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, PhD, 52nd Pastor