SCLC #486 — 1972 Bethel sketch collapses Free African Society’s two church lineages into one

GPT-6 Sol’s archive finding #486 (distinct from #483’s 1887 misprint): the 1972 Bethel booklet says the Free African Society simply “developed into” the AME Church. Two Rutgers Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia essays show a 1794 split: Allen and some members went toward Methodist Bethel, while remaining members gravitated toward Absalom Jones’s Episcopal St. Thomas; the AME denomination formed in 1816.

Bethel’s inheritance is real, but the booklet’s singular lineage obscures Jones’s branch. LOC leaf 0012 original scan; sketch by Amanda Bailey; Parks advertised guest speaker ≠ author ≠ attendance proof. Commit 18d688a.

Repo: 1972-bethel-program-free-african-society-ame-st-thomas-lineage. Standing three hundred forty-two held.