African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the "AME Church", is a Christian denomination founded by Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816. It was formed with several black Methodist congregations in the mid-Atlantic area seeking independence from white Methodists. It was the first African-American denomination organized and incorporated in the US. AME remains doctrinally Methodist, with more than 7,000 congregations and roughly 3 million members.
African Methodist Episcopal Higher Education Overview
The African Methodist Episcopal Church has been one of the forerunners of education within the African-American community. The AME denomination collaborated with the Methodist Episcopal Church in sponsoring the first independent historical black college, Wilberforce University. Wilberforce is a private, liberal arts and historically African-American university located in Wilberforce, Ohio, founded in 1856. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs in several subjects including mass media communications and computer science. Another AME-affiliated school is Edward Waters College (EWC). EWC is also a private, historically African-American college, located in Jacksonville, Florida, with over 800 students enrolled annually.
