Many don't know the abolitionist and AME Church founder honored in this new Delaware mural

• Richard Allen, born into slavery near Smyrna, rose to found the AME Church and promote rights for African Americans.
• Some of his most notable achievements are illustrated in a new mural unveiled March 14 in Smyrna.

A mural of a former slave who became an abolitionist and founded a church denomination for African Americans is now in full view in Smyrna.

The completion of the painting of Richard Allen was celebrated in an unveiling March 14 at the Stokesbury House, a town-owned building at 111 S. Main St., next to the Smyrna Library and Opera House.

Allen was born into slavery on a farm east of Smyrna. He purchased his freedom and moved to Philadelphia where he founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church and was among the nation's leading abolitionists.

But many Americans have never heard of him, including the artist, before this project.

Artist Michael Rosato has painted dozens of works illustrating Black history including one featuring Harriet Tubman in Cambridge, Maryland, but he was not familiar with Richard Allen.

“I learned so much. He was revolutionary. He was a founding father,” Rosato said. “In starting the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Richard Allen said, ‘We want equality. We are going to move forward. We are going to create our own church. We are going to create our own future and have our own power.’ It’s a triumph of the human spirit.”

Rosato researched Allen including interviews with biographers and AME Church representatives, and he visited sites connected to Allen in Philadelphia including Bethel AME Church and Allen’s burial site.

“I need a wall five times as big to really tell the story so you have to select certain elements in the story,” Rosato said. “Everything you see on this mural is a story of empowerment. This is a man who would not settle for anything except equality, freedom and respect.”

Rosato worked on the mural for about a month and spent about eight hours assembling it on the side of the Stokesbury house.

“I find it really important to give a face, a mural face, to stories that haven’t been told in American history,” he said.

Smyrna Vice Mayor Michael Rasmussen organized the mural committee and thanked T-Mobile for the grant that funded the project.

“Their support ... will allow us to highlight and educate our community about the diverse history and natural beauty of our community and will help to kick off more investments in the arts in our downtown,” Rasmussen said.

The mural committee was led by Town Planning Director Jeremy Rothwell with contributions from many people including Dr. Richard Neumann who wrote a biography of Richard Allen, Sharon Wright, the Rev. Mark Tyler and the Rev. Ronniere Robinson.

Robinson is the pastor of Bethel AME Church in Smyrna, which is named after Allen’s church in Philadelphia.

“His roots in Delaware set the stage for a lot of work that happened not only in the church but to contribute to the liberation of people of color,” Robinson said. “I can’t be more happy that this is happening here.”

Smyrna Mayor Robert C. Johnson agreed.

“This mural means a lot and I think it’s a beautiful thing for Smyrna,” said Johnson, who was one of the first Black students to attend integrated classes at Smyrna Elementary in 1959.

He said the mural properly portrays a part of Black history and encouraged schools to teach more stories like this.

Dorothy Stokesbury Morris, who once lived in the house that now features the mural, said the painting is an “awesome illustratation of history” at one of the oldest homes in Smyrna which she’s glad has been preserved.

The keynote speaker at the mural unveiling was Samuel L. Green Sr., bishop of the First Episcopal District of the AME Church, the position that Allen held after founding the church.

“Those of us who grew up in the AME Church grew up hearing the story of Richard Allen and how his whole life unfolded and how we became the African Methodist Episcopal Church. But coming to this corridor of the world, to be the bishop of the First Episcopal District where it all started, means so much for me,” Green said. “He is the first and I stand as the 125th bishop in the line of succession of Richard Allen.”

Green thanked the artist and all who participated in the mural project.

Along with representatives from AME churches, also attending the ceremony were members of the Prince Hall Free Masons from the Philadelphia lodge named after Allen.

Allen’s work to form churches for African Americans

In 1787, Allen, Absalom Jones and other Black community leaders formed the Free African Society in Philadelphia, meeting at Allen’s house, with the main goal of providing aid to newly freed Blacks to develop leaders in the community, according to the Historical Society of Philadelphia’s website.

Allen became a licensed lay preacher at predominantly white St. George’s United Methodist Church in Philadelphia. As the African American attendance at the church grew, they were told they must sit in a segregated portion of the balcony.

When Absalom Jones refused, he and Allen led the African Americans out of the church.

Following the walkout, Allen worked to establish an African American church in the city. 

“While Allen’s religious convictions leaned toward Methodism, a majority of the former congregants of St. George’s did not want to align themselves with a denomination that had segregated them. In 1791, Allen and the Free African Society broke ground on an African American church on Fifth Street, which became known as St. Thomas African Episcopal Church. The church, which was headed by Absalom Jones, officially opened in 1794,” according to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s website.

Allen pursued his goal of starting a Methodist church, and later in 1794, he met with a group of 10 black Methodists to discuss his plans. In a former blacksmith’s shop, he started Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, which grew to more than 1,000 members in just under 20 years.

“To establish Bethel’s independence from interfering white Methodists, Allen…successfully sued in the Pennsylvania courts in 1807 and 1815 for the right of his congregation to exist as an independent institution,” according to the African Methodist Episcopal Church website. “Because black Methodists in other middle Atlantic communities encountered racism and desired religious autonomy, Allen called them to meet in Philadelphia to form a new Wesleyan denomination, the AME.”

Allen was appointed the first bishop of the denomination.

Grant from T-Mobile funds Smyrna murals

This is the second mural in Smyrna funded by T-Mobile. The company’s Hometown Grants program started in 2021, setting aside $25 million to invest community-driven proposals in 500 towns with populations of 50,000 or less across the country.

Along with art programs, grants have been used for playgrounds, trails and renovations to historic community buildings.

Smyrna applied for $29,500 in T-Mobile funds to beautify the downtown commercial district, according to Smyrna Planning Director Rothwell.

The first mural on West Commerce Street near Main Street promotes nearby Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.

Because Commerce Street is a main route for those traveling from the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. area to Bombay Hook, “we opted to install the first mural on the side of building along Commerce Street which functions like a huge billboard,” Rothwell said.

“We chose to do our second mural to commemorate the legacy of Richard Allen, because he is among the Smyrna area's most prominent and famous residents, even if most associate him with his time in Philadelphia,” Rothwell said. “We saw it as a way of recognizing the contributions of African Americans in the greater Smyrna area.”

More about the artist, Michael Rosato

Both of the Smyrna murals funded by T-Mobile were painted by Rosato, who's studio is in Cambridge, Maryland.

Corporations, museums and individuals have commissioned him to create art for museums, corporate headquarters, retail spaces, restaurants, sports arenas, outdoor venues and private homes, according to his website.

His art can be seen at sites across the country including the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Oklahoma City National Memorial, Texas Motor Speedway, the headquarters of Bacardi in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the US Fish and Wildlife Museum in Virginia and the Chesapeake Country Mural Trail in Dorchester County, Maryland which includes a mural highlighting Cambridge’s African-American history, culture and heritage. 

Reporter Ben Mace covers real estate, development and business news. Reach him at rmace@gannett.com.