In this book, Dennis C. Dickerson examines the long history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and its intersection with major social movements over more than two centuries. Beginning as a religious movement in the late eighteenth century, the African Methodist Episcopal Church developed as a freedom advocate for blacks in the Atlantic World. Governance of a proud black ecclesia often clashed with its commitment to and resources for fighting slavery, segregation, and colonialism, thus limiting the full realization of the church's emancipationist ethos. Dickerson recounts how this black institution nonetheless weathered the inexorable demands produced by the Civil War, two world wars, the civil rights movement, African decolonization, and women's empowerment, resulting in its global prominence in the contemporary world. His book also integrates the history of African Methodism within the broader historical landscape of American and African-American history.
- Integrates the history of African Methodism, a major black religious body, within the broader historical landscape of American and African American history
- Emphasizes the development of African Methodism in the context of the black Atlantic
- Examines the tensions between managing the operations of a proud black religious body and the equally urgent need for frontline involvements in opposition to slavery, segregation, and colonialism
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Reviews & endorsements
'Grateful thanks are due to Dennis Dickerson for this thoroughly researched and beautifully written study of one of World Methodism's most significant branches.' Martin Wellings, Wesley and Methodist Studies
'… Dickerson's book is a masterfully crafted contribution to the field of African American religious history, and it will serve as a resource to both scholars and non-scholars alike for many, many years to come.' Ahmad Greene-Hayes, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History
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Customer reviews

20th Oct 2020 by DisEquilibrium
Dennis C. Dickerson’s magnum opus, The African Methodist Episcopal Church, A History, is a superb scholarly contribution about the historical intersection of racial emancipation and organizational growth for a preeminent African American church. As a skilled historian with specializations in labor history and intellectual history he meets this academic challenge by describing these synergistic forces in only seven chapters covering 560 pages. The book is an intellectual juggernaut and an encyclopedic masterpiece of knowledge and facts combining a perspicacious perspective about the trajectory of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC). I would suggest an easy framework for understanding the author’s tome is to see the book communicating four essential elements for readers.: Genesis, Gallantry, Growth and Greatness of the AMEC. The organization and development of the book chapters allow readers to grasp these elements quickly with a sense of purpose and urgency. As an economist, I appreciate how the author’s applies economic terminology like “mobile laity” and risk management in describing AMEC growth opportunities. The book resonates with numerous examples for why it was imperative of the AMEC to encourage labor security to achieve sustainable church growth paths. The book’s title could have been amended to read- “An Economic History” with no loss in substance or significance. The book is not an apology for the status quo, nor does it promote a sense of denominational chauvinism. The author covers areas where the AMEC, despite her historical and contemporary commitment to racial/human emancipation, has fallen short like global flexibility, science, sex and sexuality and internal organizational brouhahas. Unfortunately, given the timeline for publication release, Dickerson is not able to offer commentary about technology and how the AMEC is responding and adjusting to a post-COVID environment. I am sure in the next edition of his book, CV-19 will receive proper attention. Discussing the shortcomings side-by-side with the rich legacy and accomplishments of the AMEC promotes scholarly credibility and provide readers with a fair and equilibrium framework for understanding ecclesiastical social dynamics. This book is a must read, particularly if one seeks to have an informed understanding about the AME Church.

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Product details
- Date Published: October 2020
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521153966
- length: 614 pages
- dimensions: 230 x 153 x 38 mm
- weight: 0.89kg
- contains: 19 b/w illus.
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Richard Allen and the rise of African Methodism in the Atlantic World, 1760–1831
2. The freedom church, 1831–1861
3. 'Welcomed and ransomed', 1861–1880
4. A denomination in the diaspora, 1880–1916
5. Into the second century
6. Freedom now!
7. Becoming a global church, 1976–2018
Epilogue.
Look Inside
Author
Dennis C. Dickerson, Vanderbilt University, Tennessee
Dennis Dickerson is James M. Lawson, Jr Professor of History at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee. A scholar of American labor history, the American civil rights movement, and African American religious history, he has received grants and fellowships from the American Academy in Berlin, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies, among others. He is the author of Out of the Crucible: Black Steelworkers in Western Pennsylvania, 1875-1980 (1986), African American Preachers and Politics: The Careys of Chicago (2010) and Militant Mediator: Whitney M. Young, Jr (1998), which was awarded the 1999 Distinguished Book from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists.