Peter Spencer was born a slave in Kent County, Maryland, in
1782. He was freed and moved to Wilmington in the 1790s. Spencer learned to read and write,
probably at a Quaker school. He was soon an active in community and in his church, Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church. In a
protest against the church's racial discrimination Peter Spencer and William
Anderson, both laymen, led almost forty members out of Asbury to form Ezion M.E. Church,
where they hoped they could have religious freedom and ecclesiastical independence.
Eight years later, in 1813, still frustrated by the Methodist
Episcopal
church's discrimination, the two men led another group away from the church. They
founded an independent church, the Union Church of African Members, the first
African American controlled church in America. Spencer
served as pastor and elder minister until his death. The Union Church spread quickly
to include congregations in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York.
Peter Spencer spent his
life championing freedom and independence for African Americans not only in religion, but also socially, politically, and
culturally. He helped
found schools and black institutions. He worked to move slaves and free blacks
beyond their condition of oppression and dependency to one of liberation and
self-determination.
The Big Quarterly, held the last weekend of August, was begun shortly after
the Union Church broke from the Methodist Church in 1813. Spencer intended the festival,
a celebration of religious independence, to provide an opportunity for
African Americans both to celebrate and enliven their spiritual lives, and to come
together to deal with matters of race, culture, and politics. With the exception of
the Civil War years, the Big Quarterly has been held each year on the last weekend in
August.
Peter Spencer