St Philip’s Church, New York

This African American congregation was founded in 1818. It was the second African American Episcopal congregation in the United States after St. Thomas African Episcopal Church, Philadelphia. The first members of St. Philip's had been members of Trinity Parish, New York. The leader of the parish was Peter Williams, Jr., a lay reader, “Absalom Jones's New York counterpart,” and later the first rector. The Union of Black Clergy and Laity, now the Union of Black Episcopalians, was organized at St. Philip's Church on Feb. 8, 1968.