Methodist History: Slave welcomed as church member (UMTV)

Years before the American Revolution, Methodism arrived in the New World. The first classes met at the home of Robert Strawbridge and his wife in New Windsor, Maryland. Included in that group of early believers was an African-American slave named Annie Sweitzer. Sweitzer is considered one of America’s first Methodists. Even then, the denomination was known for open hearts and open doors. “She (Annie Sweitzer) was welcomed there. She was not there as a slave, as an African-American. She was there as one more person opening her heart to Christ,” says the Rev. Jim Talley with the Strawbridge Foundation.

[willgreen]

Weren't the Switzer's a white family that owned Annie and brought her under those conditions? I'm also confused by Rev. Talley's statements about Wesley's opposition to slavery from the very beginning and how Strawbridge must have preached against slavery. Wasn't Wesley's famous comment on slavery published a decade after Strawbridge formed this class?