Sarah Allen

Sarah Allen (also known as Sara Allen

Early life

Sarah Bass was born in 1764 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, as a slave. Allen maintained the family finances and general homemaking tasks.

Allen was highly involved in the AME Church, which Richard Allen founded. The family hid and cared for runaway slaves and their home was a part of the Underground Railroad. The couple used their home and the church to house enslaved people. By 1827, she had founded the Daughters of the Conference. The Daughters supported the male ministers of the AME Church. The women fed and cared for the generally poor and untidy ministers. The women also had a sewing circle to help mend and make clothes for the ministers.

Later life Allen died on July 16, 1849, at the house of her younger sister in Philadelphia. She is buried alongside Richard Allen at Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church. The Daughters of the Conference was renamed Sarah Allen Women's Missionary Society.