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Peter Williams, Jr.

c.1776-1840

Name: Peter Williams, Jr.

Occupation/Training:Clergyman

Abolitionist Involvement:
A pioneer African-American Episcopal clergyman, abolitionist, and opponent of the American Colonization Society. Williams led a group of African Americans who attended Trinity Church in New York City in organizing what is now known as St. Phillip's Episcopal Church. The following year this congregation was consecrated by the Bishop of New York. Williams himself was not ordained until 1826. During 1833, Williams became deeply involved in organizing the American Antislavery Society. But he acquiesced to the requirement of his priestly vows to obey his bishop when, after a white mob burned the sanctuary and rectory of St. Phillip's Church in July 1834, his bishop instructed him to abandon his abolitionist activities.

In 1808 he wrote the following prayer:



A Prayer For Africa's Children
Peter Williams, Jr.

Oh, God!
We thank thee, that thou didst condescend to listen to the cries of Africa's wretched sons; and that thou didst interfere in their behalf. At thy call humanity sprang forth, and espoused the cause of the oppressed; one hand she employed in drawing from their vitals the deadly arrows of injustice; and the other in holding a shield to defend them from fresh assaults.; and at that illustrious moment when the sons of '76 pronounced these United States free and independent; when the spirit of patriotism erected a temple sacred to liberty; when the inspired voices of Americans first uttered those noble sentiments, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; among which are life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"; and when the bleeding African, lifting his fetters exclaimed, " am I not a man and a brother"; then with redoubled efforts, the angel of humanity strove to restore to the African race the inherent rights of man.



Publications/References:Conversations With God: Two Centuries of Prayer by African Americans, edited with an introduction by James Melvin Washington, Ph.D. HarperCollinsPublishers.

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