Absalom Jones (1746–1818) was born into slavery but with his master’s permission attended a Quaker school in Philadelphia. By 1784, Jones had purchased freedom for himself and his family. Jones soon became a leader in the African American community and in 1787 was a founder of the Free African Society. In 1794 he founded St. Thomas’s African Episcopal Church. Ten years later he became the first black priest ordained in the Episcopalian Church. Jones was an active abolitionist, petitioning Congress and writing about the wrongs of slavery. In...