Pennington Clergy Forum presents “Learning from our past to build a more just future: American colonization, faith and our local heritage

In honor of Black History Month, on Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 7pm, the public is invited to join a panel discussion of distinguished guests who will be discussing the history of the American Colonization Society(ACS); the life of Richard Allen, founder of the Free African Society and African Methodist Episcopal Church; and several local families who were directly involved in the mission and development of the ACS. Gain insight into how their affiliations entwined and impacted the evolution of the ACS’s true mission and intent.

Guest panelist include The Rev. Dr. Charles F. Boyer, Senior Pastor of Greater Mount Zion AME Church and Founder/Director of Salvation and Social Justice; Rev. Dr. Deborah Blanks, Pastor of Mt. Pisgah AME Church, Princeton and former Associate Dean of Religious Life at Princeton University; Rev. Dr. Gordon Mikoski, Associate Professor of Christian Education and Editor for Theology Today at Princeton Seminary and Elizabeth Allan Deputy Director /Curator, Morven Museum and Garden.

We invite the community to learn about our past in order to envision a more equitable future.

Discussion will center on the 1816 formation of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia by the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, the creation of the American Colonization Society also in 1816 by Presbyterian minister Robert Finley, and how history has recorded the intersection of these two organizations. The panel will summarize the initial collaboration between Richard Allen and the ACS , local and national notable ACS members,  the Stockton family of Princeton and their connection with the ACS and the purchase of Liberia,  Allen’s eventual progression from the ACS, and Rev. Mikoski’s modern day’s pilgrimages to Liberia

The event will be moderated by Beverly Mills, historian and co-author of “If These Stones Could Talk.” and Rev. Gregory S. Smith, Senior Pastor of Second Calvary Baptist Church, Hopewell, NJ . 

The event will take place on Thursday February 16th  2024 at 7pm sharp.

This event will be held in person Pennington Presbyterian Church, 13 S. Main Street, Pennington NJ, and will also be available on Zoom.

For further information , please contact the church office at Pennington Presbyterian Church 609-737-1221, ext. 1