Religious Leader, Social Reformer. He was America's first African-American Priest in the Episcopal church and founder of the first African-American Episcopal Church in America. One of the most influential clergymen in Colonial America, he left a continuing impact on the life of millions. An earnest minister, he denounced slavery and warned the oppressors to "clean their hands of slaves." Jones was born a house slave in Delaware in 1746. He later taught himself to read from the Holy Bible, among other books. At age sixteen, he, his parents and siblings were each sold to different masters. In 1762, Jones was taken by his new master from a plantation in rural Delware to the strange and unfamiliar urban setting of Philadelphia, PA where he was sold to a storeowner. There Jones attended a night school for blacks operated by Quaker's. In 1766, at age twenty, he married Mary King, another slave and later purchased her freedom with his earnings. Jones later purchased his own freedom in 1784. He soon was converted to Christianity through the preachings of Methodists. At Philadelphia's St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church, Jones served as lay minister for the black memembers of the congregation. The active evangelisim of Jones and that of his friend Richard Allen, founder of the A.M.E. Church, greatly increased black membership at St. George's. The alarmed white congregation soon decided to segregate African-Americans into an upstairs gallery, without notifying them. During a Sunday service in 1787, he and Allen led black members of the congregation in a walkout protesting a new church policy that required African-Americans to sit at the back of the balcony. That same year Jones and Allen organized the Free African Society, a service organization for African-Americans. Jones and Allen both were elected oversears. In 1792, the Society began to build a church which was dedicated on July 17, 1794 called St. Thomas African Episcopal Church. The African-American congregation applied for membership in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania on the following conditions; 1, that they be received as an organized body; 2, that they have control over their local affairs; 3, that Absalom Jones be licensed as a lay leader, and, if qualified, be ordained as minister. In 1794, Jones was admitted as minister. That same year the Free African Society split into two groups, one led by Jones and the other by Richard Allen, that led to the forming of Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church. In 1795, the Bishop of the Episcopal Church ordained Jones as a deacon and later as a priest on Sept. 21, 1802. As minister, it was Jones's constant visiting and mild manner that made him beloved by his own flock and by the community. St. Thomas Church's membership eventually rose to 500 its first year. Absalom Jones died in Philadelphia on Feb. 13, 1818. He left a continuing impact on the life of millions.