Peter Spencer (religious leader)

Peter Spencer (1782–1843) was an American freedman who in 1813 founded the Union Church of Africans in Wilmington, Delaware.

[1] Born into slavery in 1782 in Kent County, Maryland, Spencer was freed after his master died, by the terms of his will.

It had ties to the Methodist Episcopal Church until 1816, when several congregations formed it as a denomination, electing Allen as bishop.

In 1814, Spencer called for the first annual gathering of the Union Church, an event now known as the Big August Quarterly.

This has drawn members of this denomination and their descendants together in an annual religious and cultural festival, which continues to be held in the early 21st century.