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Absalom Jones

Absalom Jones
Artist
Unidentified Artist
Sitter
Absalom Jones, 6 Nov 1746 - 13 Feb 1818
Date
c. 1808
Type
Decorative Arts
Medium
Creamware, transfer prints, and paint
Dimensions
Other: 22.2 x 17.8 x 22.9cm (8 3/4 x 7 x 9")
Topic
Decorative Arts\Pitcher
Absalom Jones: Male
Absalom Jones: Religion and Spirituality\Clergy
Absalom Jones: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Social reformer
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Sidney Kaplan
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.71.61
Exhibition Label
Born Sussex County, Delaware Colony
Reverend Absalom Jones was the first Black Episcopal priest and a founder of the Free African Society (1787). Born enslaved, he was manumitted in 1784, having saved money to purchase his freedom. In 1799, he unsuccessfully petitioned the federal government regarding “the oppression and violence [to] which so great a number of like colour and National Descent are subjected.”
From his ordination in 1804 until his death, Jones helped other liberated people at the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. Adorned with Masonic emblems, this jug likely commemorates the tenth anniversary of the first Black Masonic order, which Jones cofounded in 1798.
Nacido en Sussex County, Colonia de Delaware
El reverendo Absalom Jones fue el primer sacerdote episcopal negro y fundador de la Sociedad Africana Libre (1787). Nacido esclavo, en 1784 compró su libertad con dinero que había ahorrado. En 1799 presentó ante el gobierno federal, aunque sin éxito, una petición de protección por “la opresión y la violencia a que son sometidos tantos de un mismo color y ascendencia nacional”.
Desde su ordenación en 1804 hasta su muerte, Jones ayudó a otras personas liberadas en la Iglesia Episcopal Africana de Santo Tomás. Esta jarra con emblemas masónicos conmemora posiblemente el 10o aniversario de la primera orden masónica negra, cofundada por Jones en 1798.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Exhibition
Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900
On View
NPG, East Gallery 136