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Mother A.M.E. Zion Church

Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

Description

In the late 1700s, the John Street Church in New York City, a predominantly white Methodist congregation, welcomed African Americans, including leaders like Peter Williams and James Varick. However, due to frustrations over racial inequality, Varick led a group of Black worshipers to establish the Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in 1796, the first Black church in New York State. The church became a significant center for abolitionist activism, with figures like Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth among its members. The AME Zion Church played a crucial role in the fight against slavery and racism.

Founded, 1796

Constructed, 1923

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Seneca Village-African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church trustee Epiphany Davis, employed as a feed store clerk and part of the New York African Society for Mutual Relief bought twelve lots for $578. The AME Zion Church bought six additional lots the same week, and by 1832, at least 24 lots had been sold to African Americans. The AME Zion Church, a denomination officially established in lower Manhattan in 1821, owned property for burials in Seneca Village beginning in 1827. The Seneca Village congregation was known as the AME Zion Branch Militant from 1848. In 1853, the Church established a congregation and built a church building in Seneca Village. AME Zion maintained a church school in its basement. The church building was destroyed as part of the razing of Seneca Village.

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