The First African-American Church in the U.S.

The African Methodist Episcopal Church, also called AME Church, was established by the Reverend Richard Allen in 1816. Allen founded the denomination in Philadelphia to unite African-American Methodist churches in the North. These congregations wanted to be free from white Methodists who historically had not allowed African-Americans to worship in desegregated pews.   As founder of the AME Church, Allen was consecrated  as its first bishop. The AME Church is a unique denomination in the Wesleyan tradition--it is the only religion in the western hemisphere to develop from the sociological needs of its members. It is also the first African-American denomination in the United States. God our Father, Christ our Redeemer, Man our Brother —David Alexander Payne Organizational Mission Since its establishment in 1816, the AME Church has worked to minister to the needs--spiritual, physical, emotional, intellectual and environmental--of people. Using liberation theology, the AME seeks to help those in need by preaching the gospel of Christ, providing food for the hungry, providing homes, encouraging those who have fallen on hard times as well as economic advancement, and providing employment opportunities to those in need. The History of the AME Church In 1787, the AME Church was established out of the Free African Society, an organization developed by Allen and Absalom Jones, who led African-American parishioners of St. Georges Methodist Episcopal Church to leave the congregation because of the racism and discrimination they faced. Together, this group of African-Americans would transform a mutual aid society into a congregation for people of African descent. In 1792, Jones founded the African Church in Philadelphia, an African-American church free from white control. Desiring to become an Episcopal parish, the church opened in 1794 as the African Episcopal Church and became the first black church in Philadelphia. However, Allen wanted to remain Methodist and led a small group to form the Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1793. For the next several years, Allen fought for his congregation to worship free from white Methodist congregations. After winning these cases, other African-American Methodist churches  that were also encountering racism wanted independence. These congregations to Allen for leadership. As a result, these communities came together in 1816 to form a new Wesleyan denomination known as the AME Church. Before the abolition of slavery, most AME congregations could be found in Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Washington D.C. By the 1850s, the AME Church had reached San Francisco, Stockton, and Sacramento. Once slavery ended, the AME Churchs membership in the South increased tremendously, reaching 400,000 members by 1880 in states such as South Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Texas. And by 1896, the AME Church could boast membership on two continents--North America and Africa--as there were churches established in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and South Africa. AME Church Philosophy The AME Church follows the doctrines of the Methodist Church. However, the denomination follows the Episcopal form of church government, having bishops as religious leaders. Also, since the denomination was founded and organized by African-Americans, its theology is based on the needs of people of African descent. Early Notable Bishops Since its inception, the AME Church has cultivated African-American men and women who could synthesize their religious teachings with a fight for social injustice. For example,  Benjamin Arnett addressed the 1893 Worlds Parliament of Religions, arguing that people of African descent have helped develop Christianity.  Additionally,  Benjamin Tucker Tanner wrote, An Apology for African Methodism in 1867 and The Color of Solomon in 1895. AME Colleges and Universities Education has always played an important role in the AME Church. Even before slavery was abolished in 1865, the AME Church began establishing schools to train young African-American men and women. Many of these schools are still active today and include senior colleges Allen University, Wilberforce University, Paul Quinn College, and Edward Waters College; junior college, Shorter College; theological seminaries, Jackson Theological Seminary, Payne Theological Seminary and Turner Theological Seminary. The AME Church Today The AME Church now has membership in thirty-nine countries on five continents. There are currently twenty-one bishops in active leadership and nine general officers who oversee various departments of the AME Church.

Challenges Faced by Amazon, SWOT Analysis, Porters Five Forces, and B Case Study

Essays on Challenges Faced by Amazon, SWOT Analysis, Porters Five Forces, and BCG Matrix Case Study The paper â€Å"Challenges Faced by Amazon, SWOT Analysis, Porter’s Five Forces, and BCG Matrix† is a   Ã‚  breathtaking example of a case study on e-commerce. Amazom.com is a perfect example of the impact of the internet revolution and how such developments have changed the business scene. As a virtual company, it marks the influence of the internet on conventional business strategies mode and theories (Reading 2004). This report will analyze the Amazon business model and macro factors affecting the company’s future. The report addresses Amazon through its two recognized SBU’s North America (domestic) and international markets. The SWOT analysis will evaluate Amazon's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The porter’s five forces analysis will give insight into the online retailing industry and Amazon's competitive advantage over its rivals. This report will look at Amazon’s product portfolio and its market share in each categ ory. The report has given a recommendation to improve Amazon’s performance in the future.Industry overviewInternet access has been growing steadily over the past 15 years and continues to grow in the future as well (Heinemann Schwarzl 2010). This is a booming industry. There are few barriers to entry therefore fiercely competitive industry. The industry provides an alternative to the physical retailing industry which gives customers more choice because they can look for more suppliers supplying the same service. The online companies do not have to pay huge rent for the prime location but they have another technology cost.Amazon overviewAmazon.com is an American based online retail company. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, the company was established as an online bookstore in July 1995 in Washington (Mennen 2006; Annual report 2009). The company was reincorporated again in 1996 in the state of Delaware. The company got listed on May 15, 1997, on NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol ‘AMZN’ (Amazon Annual Report 2009). Amazon.com is the market leader in the e-commerce business. In a span of five years after the listing, the company’s revenue had grown from â€Å"$147.8 million to over $ 3.93 billion with sales registering a 26% growth in the fiscal year 2001† (Mennen 5; Cummings Worley, 332). However, investors did not gain a lot as the firm plowed back the profits in developing a number of warehouses and distribution centers across the country (McGrath MacMillan 2009). Today the company has become a multinational company successfully operating in many countries such as Japan, UK, and Germany (Annual report 2009). The company measures its success on the basis of the value it creates for its shareholders. The company believes in investing in its employees and benefiting from its talent. The company rewards its employees through shares rather than cash to motivate them to work in the best interest of shareholders. Amazon offers the world the largest selection of products making it the leading online shopping site throughout the world (Regan 2008). Amazon is one of the top brands in the online retailing industry.The company had an early mover advantage in the industry as one of the pioneer online retailers (Mennen 2006). Originally, the firm was a simple online low price bookstore before expanding to include CDs and DVDs in 1998. The company’s business model is to generate a large number of sales with a low margin profit which necessitated a change in strategy (Annual report 2009). In 1999, the firm engaged in networking as a growth strategy. Non-Amazon products such as used books and individual auctions of different products were placed under tabs on the company’s website and were not allowed to mix with the firm’s products. Such tabs were the ‘auctions’ tab and the ‘shop’ tab (Cummings Worley 2009). This strategy was later reviewed to allow small businesses placed under tabs to place their products in Amazon’s most visited sites at a fee. Another program, merchants@amazon.com, allowed larger partner retailers such as Office Depot, Circuit City and Borders Books to access Amazon’s customers for a service fee and commission while Amazon retained inventory ownership and controlled prices. Another business arrangement with firms such as Drugstore allowed Amazon users to be transferred to other websites with Amazon receiving a commission based on the number of visitors transferred (Cummings Worley 2009). In the recent past, the firm has entered the manufacturing industry through its Kindle brand an electronic reading device (Kaye Quinn 2010).

Congressional reconstruction

Congressional reconstruction- civil war Essay The governments established under Congressional Reconstruction made notable and lasting achievements. One positive outcome that resulted was the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which extended citizenship to African Americans and listed certain rights of all citizens such as the right to own property, bring lawsuits, and testify in court. Another major outcome was the Fifteenth Amendment, which prohibited the states from denying the right to vote because of a persons race or because a person had been a slave. This finally granted African Americans the right to vote and marked an important change in the history of our country. A negative outcome resulted politically from congressional Reconstruction. Many of the federal laws concerning reconstruction led to the strengthening of the federal government at the expense of the states. These new laws often placed significant restrictions on state actions on the ground that the rights of national citizenship took precedence over the powers of state governments leading to an increase in sectional bitterness, an intensification of the racial issue, and the development of one-party politics in the South. Stemming from this infringement of states rights and intensified by the election of 1868 was another negative outcome. Fierce activities were stirred up by groups such as the KKK- violence became prominent, and terrorists and mobs attacked many people- mostly Republicans and blacks. The end of slavery brought new expectations for all African Americans, whether they had been slaves or not. Taking advantage of the new choices that freedom opened, they tried to create independent lives for themselves, and they developed social institutions that helped to define black communities. African Americans also expected political and economic equality. Few were able to acquire land of their own- a significant constraint on their economic choices- and most became either wage laborers or sharecroppers. Having no land, no tools, and no money, the freed slaves had only their personal labor to sell. Most white southerners expected to keep African Americans in a subordinate role through black codes and violence, and these things also posed a major constraint for the free slaves. Though freedom did not come to all slaves at the same time or in the same way, in the end, the outcome of Reconstruction failed to fulfill most African Americans expectations for freedom and equality. .