 As a result, racial tensions flared and after a time a progressively segregated seating policy for blacks brought Allen and Jones to lead the African congregation in a historic walkout leading to the formation of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas and Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.1789 
August 17 - Rev.John Dickins opens the first Methodist Bookstore at St. George's, laying the foundation for the Methodist Publishing House and the current Cokesbury Book Stores.