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But the agency is marking another 1776 birth that holds special meaning for Black Presbyterians, especially in this city of firsts.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>The same year the Declaration of Independence was signed, the Reverend John Gloucester was born into slavery in Tennessee. Gloucester would become the first African American ordained as a Presbyterian minister in the U.S. and establish the nation’s first Black Presbyterian congregation in the city of the signing.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>New River Presbyterian Church in West Philadelphia traces its beginnings to Gloucester. New River is a union of three historic congregations — one being First African Presbyterian Church, the congregation Gloucester founded in 1807. The spiritual heritage of First African animates New River’s commitment to seeing its community in the city flourish.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>The Board of Pensions renamed its second-floor conference space for Gloucester in 2022, after a formal proposal to honor him was received by the agency’s staff-led Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leadership Council.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>After being manumitted by the Presbyterian missionary Gideon Blackburn in 1806, Gloucester studied at Greeneville College, now PC(USA)-affiliated Tusculum University. In 1807, at age 33, he moved to Philadelphia and began preaching in a house in South Philadelphia. At the time, the city’s free Black population was nearly 9,000, a vibrant, established community anchored by independent Black churches.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>When Gloucester’s congregation grew too big for the house, he moved it several blocks away to a street corner, where his singing would draw a crowd and he’d begin preaching. 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