African American Church Education Initiative

I had the pleasure to do a TEDx talk on March 9, 2021 on Resiliency and Resistance of the African American church. This talk was hosted by the good people at the University of Mississippi.

To know a movement you need to understand it's history. Dr. Hunter focuses on the churches that housed the Civil Rights movement and created a "black space" that healed and empowered African Americans throughout a tumultuous history. Check out his talk through the link in our bio!

It has been a minute since my last upload, but here we go. This is New Zion Baptist Church, located in Bessemer, Alabama. This building was constructed and completed in 1952 as the current structure from a congregation that was founded in 1902 under the leadership of Reverend Sam Hall. The congregation purchased the original small white wood-frame church from a Sh*te congregation called, 'The First Methodist Episcopal Church.' Throughout church history, there have been several buildings constructed upon the current site for the congregation, in 1911 and 1944. According to congregants, a tornado and lightning strikes destroyed the 1944 building in 1951, leveling the building to the ground. The current church building was constructed from original architectural plans designed by Wallace Rayfield, Alabama's first African American architect, with the construction of this building completed in 1952. This black and white image is of the church circa 1952. This image was taken from the book, 'The Architecture of Wallace Rayfield', by Allen R. Durough. The color exterior image is a current image of the building, with the addition of an elevator shaft aesthetically incorporated on the main facade of the building. This building is a loose representation of Romanesque Revival style which was consistent with many of the church buildings that Rayfield designed in the Birmingham and North Alabama region. This building has a dominant main facade, anchored with twin towers on each corner of the building, with a symmetrical balance of materials and fenestration. Entrance into the church building was conducted at the base of each tower. The nave of the church is on the second floor and is a vast axial space with a second-floor balcony above. There is a full lower level that serves as an administrative space and fellowship hall, with this level accessible directly to the outdoors. The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and his father, Reverend Martin Luther King Sr., both preached at New Zion. My sincere gratitude to Pastor Lee Eason and the wonderful members of New Zion for sharing their history and story.

This is Saint Augustine Catholic Church (SACC), located in New Orleans, Louisiana. SACC is located in the historic Treme Community, considered one of the oldest established enclaves for persons of color in the country. SACC is the oldest African American parish in the United States. The current building construction was completed in 1842 and it was designed by French architect Jacques Nicolas Bussiere de Pouilly, the same architect who designed the famous Saint Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square in the heart of New Orleans. The Ursuline Order donated the current site to construct a church for persons of color, enslaved and free. Two women lead this effort, Henriette Delille, a free woman of color, and Juliette Gaudin, a Cuban woman. Both women aided enslaved persons, specifically orphan girls, as well as the uneducated, the sick and the elderly. The work of these two women help found the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family, the second-oldest African American congregation of women. The mission for the newly established church was to provide a place for people of color to freely worship. The architecture of the building a hybrid of stylistic influences between French and Spanish as well as a suggestion of a Classical influence upon the primary facade of the building. The church tower, prominently located at the corner of the building, is consistent with the presence of many towers on church buildings in New Orleans, where its physical location on the building serves as a marker and a strong architectural element on the principle facade. One of the more interesting historical facets of the church is the so called 'War of the Pews', which I have argued can be a physical example of Afrocentric sacred space. A purely Catholic church, Saint Augustine represents the variety of Afrocentric religious expression which exist in New Orleans. Shout out to Father Emmanuel Mulenga, OMI, Linda Harris, church secretary, April Posch, and the wonderful persons at the church who took time out to support my research of the church house. You can visit Saint Augustine at the following Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/saintaugchurch

This is the Jackson Street Missionary Baptist Church (JSMBC), located in Vicksburg, Mississippi. JSMBC was organized in April 1888, by Reverend A.A. Hamilton and others in the State Golden Rule Hall, then located on Farmer Street. The original membership consisted of seventy-five people. The church called the Reverend A.M. Johnson, D.D. of Port Gibson, Mississippi as the first pastor. The congregation bought a lot at a cost of $1,000.00 on the corner of Second North and Jackson Streets. On July 10, 1899, ground was broken for the building of this elaborate brick edifice, completing the structure in 1907. JSMBC is a locally significant example of an early 20th century Gothic Revival auditorium-plan church with a tall corner tower and a two-story projecting bay. This architectural style was very popular with many African American churches constructed in Mississippi. The church building was erected at a cost of $25,000.00. The large one-story, red brick, church was built by a black contractor, E.J. Allein, who traveled from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania down to Vicksburg to take on the project. When completed, JSMBC became the largest Negro church in the state. The main auditorium holds eight hundred people. Over the years JSMBC became an important institution in its immediate community. JSMBC became the first Black church to organize a vacation bible school. A Head Start program, which was hosted by the church, began in the late 1960s. JSMBC was designated a State of Mississippi landmark in July 2018. Special thank you to Pastor Trollars Moore, Fred Davis, and the great folks at the church for supporting my research of their spiritual home. You can visit JSMBC on their page at the following address: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Baptist-Church/The-Historic-Jackson-Street-Missionary-Baptist-Church-108093977535893/

I would like to re-introduce the church I consider to be 'ground zero' for my research. The First African Baptist Church (FABC), located in Savannah, Georgia. Constructed in the mid-1850s by enslaved persons, its origins can be traced back to 1773 to a barn on the Brampton Plantation, one of several Savannah river plantations of the time. The church was founded by George Liele, an African Baptist minister. Liele trained Andrew Bryan, who would become the first ordained pastor of FABC in 1788. The ability to purchase the site of the current church was led by FABC's third pastor, Andrew Marshall. Living to the blessed age of ninety-nine years, Marshall oversaw the explosive growth in membership from the late 1820s to the mid-1850s, particularly for a church functioning in antebellum Savannah. The construction of the current church building, completed in 1859, was exposed red brick with no tower and became the first brick edifice owned by African Americans in the state of Georgia (see the black and white image of the newly constructed building). In the latter part of the 19th century, the church featured a wood-framed steeple that stood an amazing one hundred feet in the air. Unfortunately, a hurricane took it down and the current more modest tower was constructed in its place. The church remained exposed brick until the mid-1940s when the current stucco finish was applied. One of the highlights of the church is the installation of Afrocentric stained glass windows depicting the first six (6) pastors of the church. Another feature is a series of Kongolese spirit symbols drilled into the wood flooring of the lower level fellowship hall. FABC is considered one of the oldest continuous African American churches in North America. As a result of the collaborative work effort of church members and my research for this church, FABC became a designated state of Georgia historic site in 2017. My thanks to Pastor Thurmond Tillman, Karen Wortham, Randy Houston, Mark Mobley, the great people at FABC, the Georgia Historical Society, and the city of Savannah, Georgia for working with me on this project. You can check out FABC at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/firstafrican

This is Reedy Chapel AME Church, located in Galveston, Texas. The church, which was formed in 1848 and organized in 1867 is the first and oldest AME church in the state of Texas, and is referred to as the 'mother church of African Methodism in Texas.' This church came into existence as a result of white slave owners wanting to provide a place of worship for their enslaved persons. The original church was called the 'Negro Methodist Episcopal Church South.' In 1866, the Negro Methodist Episcopal Church was recognized as the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in Texas by the Reverend M.M. Clark, a black missionary from Philadelphia, and the following year it was turned over to its African American membership by the Methodist Episcopal trustees on March 18, 1867. The name Reedy Chapel honors Reverend Houston Reedy, who succeeded Clark as the congregation's second pastor in 1870. The construction of the current building was completed in 1886. Reedy Chapel is a contributing structure to the architectural texture of Galveston regional craftsmanship as an interpretation of the Gothic Revival style. The contractor of the church was E.F. Campbell, while the masonry was laid by African American Norris Wright Cuney, a prominent Texas politician as well as a mason. The chapel is most notable for its historic role as the first documented site of the celebration of the emancipation of all enslaved persons in Texas, a celebration known as Juneteenth. The highlight of this building is the wonderful hewn wood trusses that frame the roof and provide a human richness to the interior character of the nave of the church. My thanks to Pastor Mary Reed and the wonderful congregation at Reedy Chapel for their contribution to my study of their church. You can check out Reedy Chapel's page at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/ReedyChapelAmeChurch

The Texas Freedom Colonies Project is an educational, social justice initiative dedicated to preserving the heritage of Texas’ historic African American settlements, and the planners and preservationists that made them possible. Our goal is to prevent the erasure, destruction, and decay of cultural properties and heritage within settlements in partnership with descendant communities. This site was created and is maintained by Andrea Roberts, PhD, Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University. On the continued study of 19th century and early 20th century African American church buildings, there is one constant datum I have discovered: The church houses and their founding congregations are directly linked to their communities and colonies. As such, Dr. Roberts' research lays the foundation for these communities to be examined and defined as historic Afrocentric safe places. Please take the time to check out this fantastic site. Thank you Dr. Roberts.

The Texas Freedom Colonies Project Preserving Texas’ African American heritage since 2014

This is Joshua Chapel AME Church, located in Waxahachie, Texas. Organized in a farmhouse in 1866, ten miles outside of Waxahachie, it was constructed in 1917 upon its current site, which was purchase by three ministers, one of whom was Joshua Goins, in 1879. The present church, originally named New Joshua Chapel, was named after Joshua Goins, who became the church's first minister. This building was designed by African American architect William Sidney Pittman, an Alabama native who attended Tuskegee Institute, where he trained in programs such as woodwork and architectural mechanical drawing. He completed his time at Tuskegee in 1897 and entered Drexel Institute in Philadelphia where he completed his architectural coursework and graduated in 1900. Mr. Pittman was the son-in-law of Tuskegee's founder, Booker T. Washington. The black and white photo of the church's exterior was taken in 1918. This image courtesy of the Ellis County Museum, Ellis County, Texas. My thanks to Pastor Tyronda Burgess and the great folks at Joshua Chapel for their contribution to my study of their church home. You can check out Joshua Chapel AME at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/joshuachapelhachie

Welcome to the African American Church Education Initiative (AACEI) Facebook site. My name is Christopher S. Hunter, PhD, the creator of this site, and I am an assistant professor of architecture at Mississippi State University. The purpose of this site is to identify, research, document, and present the history, culture, and architecture of early African American churches founded, designed, and constructed between 1800 and the 1920s. Created as a 'living site', it is the intention of the AACEI to serve as an educational resource to ensure that the African American church house, arguably the first building type created, owned, and historically constructed by African Americans, be preserved for study by any interested persons. The primary geographical focus of the examination of these church houses is from the southeast portion of the United States westward to the state of Texas.

The history of the institution of the black church in America has centered around two things: the people and the events in their lives. Very little scholarly evidence exists which examines the architecture of the church buildings which housed the people and hosted the events. Though many congregations were founded and buildings constructed in the 19th century, these church houses rose to prominence during the American Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century, serving as safe houses for people, places to organize, commune, and worship, and simply put, a 'home away from home'. As the African American church grew and flourished during the latter part of the 19th century, it quickly became the heart of the black community, a role which it continues to serve to this day.

The AACEI will feature, on a regular basis, an African American church house of historical significance, in order to highlight not only the building but its congregants and community it serves.