PHILADELPHIA

Thousands of tourists watched last summer as archaeologists, working in the shadow of Independence Hall, unearthed remnants of the home where George Washington lived with his wife and several slaves.

Now, the city's best-known Colonial-era church is dramatically bringing to light how slaves worshipped alongside parishioners like Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross.

Historians have long known that slaves attended Christ Church and were baptized, married and buried there. But it has not been publicized much in Philadelphia, where all men were declared to be created equal.

"I think it's the right time in our city's history, it's the right time in our nation's history," said Neil Ronk, a church historian and senior guide. "Maybe it can spark a discussion."

Or continue one.

The city's ties to slavery emerged in 2007 as an estimated 250,000 people witnessed the excavation of a slave passageway in the President's House, where Washington lived while Philadelphia was the nation's capital.

Then in March, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama gave a stirring speech on race relations at the National Constitution Center, just blocks from Independence Hall and the Christ Church burial ground.

The recent decision by church officials to spotlight the congregation's slave past was spurred in part by the Episcopal Church's 2006 Conference, which mandated "a full, faithful and informed" accounting of its history, Ronk said.

Founded in 1695, Christ Church was the first parish of the Church of England in Pennsylvania and the birthplace of the U.S. Episcopal Church. Tours are given daily, but special presentations on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons offer slavery-related narratives.

Actress Diane Johnson portrays "Sarah," a fictional slave who puts a human face on the grim statistics: In 1760, Philadelphia's population was 11,000; about 1,100 were black, and nearly 900 of them were slaves.