Philadelphia Renames Lombard Street Section Bishop Richard Allen Way for AME Church Founder
Philadelphia is a city in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (a consolidated city-county). Philadelphia media reported that city officials held a ceremony on October 7 to rename a section of Lombard Street as Bishop Richard Allen Way, honoring Richard Allen, a founder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. The renamed section is home to the historic Mother Bethel AME Church.
Bishop Samuel Lawrence Green Sr., who oversees the AME Church's First Episcopal District, spoke at the ceremony and said the Bishop Richard Allen Way stands for freedom, noting that Allen purchased his own freedom believing all persons deserve to be free. Allen was born into slavery in 1760 and became a Methodist at 17.
Allen went on to found Mother Bethel church in Philadelphia and helped establish the AME Church in 1816, the first independent Black denomination in the United States. The new street sign was unveiled at the ceremony on Lombard Street.
Sources: The Christian Post, October 14, 2026; Billy Penn at WHYY.
Source: 《基督邮报》、WHYY Billy Penn
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 费城市政厅实景。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，Toniklemm 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0 授权
