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In this issue: Greater Boston's African American Churches

Introduced by Brian Corcoran
Research Associate, Emmanuel Gospel Center
Managing Editor, Emmanuel Research Review

The story of the African American church in Greater Boston begins with the arrival of "perpetual servants" in the early 1600's. In this issue, Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher of the Emmanuel Gospel Center, traces the history of the African American church through the streets of Boston. Along the way, Rudy notes key personalities, events and churches which established the foundation for the present day expression of the African American church, its contribution to the Quiet Revival, and the ongoing transformation of our entire community.

Be sure to check out additional resources at the end of the article for futher study. As always, we welcome your feedback!

Greater Boston's African American Churches

by Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher, EGC

The first blacks arrived in Boston aboard the ship Desire¹ from the West Indies in 1638 as “perpetual servants.” The early black population of Boston served in the homes of wealthy merchants, worked on the waterfront as laborers, in shipbuilding, or as sailors. “In colonial Massachusetts the black population rose from 200 in 1676 to 2,000 by 1720, and to over 5,000 by the time of the Revolution,” Black Bostonians reports.² Before the Revolutionary War, New England’s black population never exceeded 16,000. About ten percent of Boston’s population was black in the mid- eighteenth century.³

In the 1700s, blacks in Boston attended and sometimes became members of white churches, but were restricted in seating and status. Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784), the first female African American to be published, was a well-known poet who became a member of Old South Church. Many of her poems were deeply spiritual and evangelical, including her elegy on the death of George Whitefield.⁴ The two Baptist churches in Boston admitted quite a number of blacks into membership between 1770 and 1805.

At the beginning of the 1800s, African Americans increasingly desired to form their own separate congregation. Initially they began non-denominational meetings at Franklin Hall on Nassau Street and Faneuil Hall. Under the leadership of Rev. Thomas Paul, a Baptist preacher from New Hampshire, Scipio Dalton, and Cato Gardner, the First African Baptist Church⁵ was officially founded on August 8, 1805. During the next year the group purchased land on Beacon Hill and completed construction of the First African Meeting House (on Smith Court off Joy Street). This building, constructed by black laborers, is the oldest black church building still standing in the United States. It now houses the Museum of African American History. Although the white churches had many shortcomings, the first two black churches in Boston did try to cooperate with them and with the denominational associations. (Photo credit: http://www.msp.umb.edu/afam/AfAmTimelines.html)

Rev. Thomas Paul nourished the growth of the church and helped start other churches, including the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City. He was a powerful evangelist who traveled to many other towns and cities to speak to large audiences, both black and white. In 1823 he was appointed a missionary to Haiti by the Baptist Missionary Society of Massachusetts. His obituary said, “We have heard him preach to an audience of more than 1,000 persons, when he seemed to have command of their feelings for an hour together.”⁶

In 1832, William Lloyd Garrison founded the influential New England Anti-Slavery Society at the African Meeting House, also the site of anti-slavery rallies. From that time through the 1860s, First African Baptist Church was very involved with the Abolitionist movement. Among the famous leaders who spoke there were Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Sojourner Truth.⁷

In 1840, forty-six members left the church to form the Twelfth Baptist Church under Rev. George Black. The new church was also very active in anti-slavery efforts, especially under the leadership of Rev. Leonard Grimes, who became pastor in 1848. “Grimes was by far the most aggressive of the black activist ministers in antebellum Boston. He spoke out not only against slavery but also worked directly with underground groups to secure the freedom for individual fugitives,” the Hortons write.⁸

The second African American church in Boston was formed out of the Bromfield Street Methodist Church in 1818. The first pastor, Rev. Samuel Snowden, came from Portland, Maine. Both he and his children were active abolitionists and social reformers. Among early church members was David Walker, who wrote the famous David Walker’s Appeal, calling for the unconditional emancipation of all slaves. At first, the church was called the May Street Church, then the Revere Street Church, and later the Fourth Methodist Church. After various changes, it is now the Union United Methodist Church. While the congregation was meeting on Revere Street, the building served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. In the 1920s, the church founded the Cooper Community Center, which still provides social services for the community.

In the 1830s two groups left the May St./Revere Street Methodist church and founded the Charles Street A.M.E. Church in 1833 and the Columbus Avenue A. M. E. Zion Church in 1838. The former congregation was organized on Beacon Hill by Rev. Noah C. W. Cannon and, “during the pre-Civil War years…hosted many stirring anti-slavery meetings with William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and others, speaking to raise funds for the anti-slavery cause.”⁹ This congregation acquired its present name when it purchased the Charles Street Meeting House in 1876. Although Boston’s African American population was moving from the West End and Beacon Hill to the South End and Lower Roxbury, the church stayed on Charles Street until 1939, when it became the first black church to move to upper Roxbury in the Elm Hill area.

The Columbus Avenue A.M.E. Zion Church moved into the former Temple Adath Israel in the South End in 1903. On July 30, 1903, two thousand people packed the church to hear Booker T. Washington, President of Tuskegee Institute.¹⁰ William Monroe Trotter and other critics of his conservative approach to civil rights confronted him with pointed questions. Some chaos and scuffles ensued, and several people, including Trotter were arrested. The publicity from this “moved others toward a more radical approach to equal rights,” leading to the Niagara Movement and the NAACP.¹¹ Among some notable leaders of the church were Miss Eliza A. Gardner, an anti-slavery speaker, and Rev. Benjamin Swain, whose seven year pastorate (1912-1918) led the church to grow from 614 to over 1,400.¹²

Another early church was Ebenezer Baptist, led by founding pastor Rev. Peter Randolph. He and a group of 66 ex-slaves came to Boston in September 1847 from Petersburg, Virginia. Although many initially joined Twelfth Baptist Church, after the Civil War they became the core of Ebenezer Baptist, meeting in the South End. Peter Randolph wrote a sketch of the realities of slave life and became a traveling lecturer, sharing his first hand experiences of slavery.¹³ He made friends with many prominent leaders, both black and white, but he was not afraid to speak out strongly against the evils of slavery and racism. We can clearly see that all of Boston’s historic black churches played an important role in the anti-slavery movement.

After the Civil War, Boston’s African American population increased from 2,348 (1865)¹⁴ to 11, 591 (1900),¹⁵ and several churches experienced major growth. While we can’t detail each of the specific African American churches that were founded to serve the growing black community, we can mention some general trends. During the twentieth century, new African American churches started within mainline denominations such as the Baptists, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians. However, a larger number of new churches started within the newer Pentecostal and holiness traditions. Many new churches started in the decades after World War II, when migration from the South again expanded the Black population of the city (from 23,679 in 1940 to 126,229 in 1980 and 146,945 in 1990).¹⁶ During the 1950s and 1960s the African American population of Boston and churches expanded into more of the Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan neighborhoods. These churches were often involved in the Civil Rights movement of the period. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his future wife Coretta were studying in Boston and were involved in People’s Baptist Church and Twelfth Baptist Church. Rev. King also served temporarily as an interim pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church in 1952.

In recent years, many churches have worked on education programs, such as the Black Ministerial Alliance’s Victory Generation after-school programs. Peoples Baptist Church has carried out a successful adopt-a-school program with two public schools. Several other churches have included church-based computer centers in their educational programs, supported by TechMission. At Bethel AME Church, Dr. Gloria White-Hammond has developed the “Do the Write Thing” educational ministry, which now serves over 500 young women.

Some churches have also been highly involved in efforts to prevent and address youth violence in the city. The TenPoint Coalition was born out of a crisis involving youth violence at a funeral at Morning Star Baptist Church. During the late 1990s churches, community police, and social agencies worked together to bring about such a remarkable reduction in shooting deaths that the effort became known as “The Boston Miracle.” Indeed, the spiritual impact of this cooperative effort was a testimony to God’s power. Professor Christopher Winship of Harvard studied the “Boston Miracle” and concluded that the Boston TenPoint Coalition did make a “critical contribution” to the dramatic reduction in violence.¹⁷ Local black pastors and Christians continue to do outreach visits to the homes of high-risk youth, work in schools, and Department of Youth Services facilities. Nevertheless, youth violence remains a major challenge.

Tables:

(Non-Hispanic black) U. S. Census, 2005 American Community Survey, Table B03002