public forums. The AME Church itself had been born in
protest in  in Philadelphia, when black worshippers, led
by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, refused to accept their
second-class treatment by the white Methodist Episcopal
Church. This consciousness permeated St. Paul. We were
taught to look upon ourselves as descendants of Allen and
Jones, who had an obligation to understand the AME Church’s
great tradition of practicing the social gospel—of using the les-
sons of the Bible to comment on broad social and economic
conditions as well as the individual’s relationship with God. It
was that charge that most appealed to me, because it supported
my early ambition to be a civil rights lawyer.

While I was aware of the injustice, I never felt intimidated

by it. I never felt I needed to limit my aspirations. I observed
all these strong black adults around me in church and in the
community. And it was made clear to me from within my
family, within St. Paul, and at Walker Street Elementary that
there were expectations of me. I benefited from the black
community’s tradition of nurturing the talents of the young;
that went on even where the restrictions against what blacks
could aspire to were codified in thousands of laws. Because I
had shown some talent, I was expected to do something with
it. From the community and my family I had inherited an op-
portunity, and I believed I was in training, preparing myself
for leadership in the future.

I had a rich diet of speakers to listen to at St. Paul. There

were the Sunday morning sermons, of course, and because I

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INTRODUCTION

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