In November 1863 three black leaders, Rev. John Loving, a methodist preacher from Quindaro, Kansas; Reverend Clark Moore, a Baptist minister affiliated with the mission, and Reverend Anderson, a Baptist preacher from Leavenworth, Kansas held an organizational meeting at Straggler’s Camp. Straggler’s Camp located on the south bank of the Missouri river between 1st and 6th Streets, Delaware to Wyandotte.

At the suggestion of a youthful member, Ms. Jane Shelby, converts were given the opportunity to choose denomination they wished to join. Reverend John Loving organized the black Methodists into what is now known as Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church, the “Mother of African Methodism, in Kansas City. Reverend Loving
guided the group until the presiding A.M.E. Bishop assigned the Reverend William B. Ousley to pastor the new church.

The AME Church grew out of the Free African Society (FAS), which free blacks Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and others established in Philadelphia in 1787. They left St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church because of discrimination. Although Allen and Jones were both accepted as preachers, they were limited to black congregations. In addition, the blacks were made to sit in a separate gallery. Former members of St. George’s made plans to transform their mutual aid society into an African congregation. Although the group was originally non-denominational, eventually members wanted to affiliate with existing
denominations.