A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE

AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION CHURCH

Compiled by

James David Armstrong

 

 

THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH ZION EMERGED

             New York was the city of Zion’s birth and its nurturing center for the first 25 years of existence.  It is therefore important to give some background on the environment that created the conditions of its first successful black, independent organization.

                 Two years after 30 Dutch families settled on the island of Manhattan in 1624, 11 Negroes were imported to this new territory, which the Dutch had purchased from the Indians for "beads and trinkets," and named New Amsterdam.  Servitude began immediately after their arrival when they were put to work as "company Negroes," building roads, cutting timber, clearing land, and erecting dwellings and forts.  Eighteen years after their arrival, the 11 Negro pioneers, with their families, boldly demanded freedom.  Official tempers flared.  But the rank-and-file of colonists recalled the early labors of these black men and supported their demands.  The authorities granted them land on the edge of the settlement, in a tangled swamp known today as Greenwich Village.  After the war between the Dutch and the English, the British flag was hoisted over New Amsterdam in 1664 and the province became New York.  African Americans then entered upon a period of sustained cruelty.  The English introduce chattel slavery.  They propagandized that Africans had no souls but perished like beasts and therefore were incapable of embracing Christianity.  Thirty years after the English occupation of the colony, there were 2,170 Africans in New York, a little more than 13 percent of the whole colonial population.  The number of slaves had increased considerably, and in 1709 a slave market was established at the foot of Wall Street.  Tensions developed between these slaves and their masters.

                 In 1696, a Negro named Prince angrily assaulted the mayor about new restrictions placed on Africans.  He was stripped to the waist, tied to a cart, and drawn through the streets, and at each corner was given 11 lashes on his naked back.  In 1708, an Indian man and an African woman were burned at the stake for killing an entire white family.  During this time all wealthy whites owned slaves, some as many as 50.  "Even people of moderate means had from three to six household slaves whom they regarded as impersonally as their chairs and tables."

                 One of the outstanding points in the history of Africans in this country was its poor, and almost impossible, burial accommodations.  New York Africans confronted this condition as early as 1722, when the dread of an uprising of Africans prompted an act providing that all Africans and Indians should be buried by “daylight.”  The act was amended afterward so that no more than twelve African should attend a funeral.  The penalty for violating this statute was a public flogging.  Furthermore, the slave was to be buried without any outward signs of grief or any ceremonial tokens, such as pall, gloves or flowers.

                 By the first half of the eighteenth century, New York had the largest slave population north of the plantation states, both in numbers and as a percentage of the total population.  "Due to a combination of circumstances, some historical, some almost accidental, some purely economic, and some less easily defined, New York came to have the largest slave population among the non- plantation English colonies in the New World.”

                 In approaching the second half of the eighteenth century, the season of religious breakthrough for Africans in New York, one can easily observe the obstruction, the hindrance, and the barriers, which they would begin to challenge with insurmountable faith and courage, and finally make their move before the end of the century. Africans in New York were generally kept under close watch, and could not have any meetings of any nature among themselves.  The following appeared in the New York Post Boy, February 16, 1756:

 

Nine Negroes were recently "whipt at the whipping post" for illegally assembling on Sunday, February 8.  Their offense was a violation of the provincial act aimed to prevent "the Conspiracy and Insurrection of Negroes and other slaves," and also of the city ordinance which required that not more than three Negroes should be seen together at one time, except in their owner’s service, under penalty of being whipped.

 

                 Thus was the condition when the strange new sect from England, known by the name of Methodist, emerged on the American continent in the city of New York, 10 years later, and near the same period on the shores of Maryland. The suspicion and fear continued to exist with very little change until the Revolutionary War period.  The handicaps under these pressures and oppressive laws were severe.  In spite of this, a few free Africans managed to get enough education to read and write.  Many of them were naturally skillful, full of God-given talents, and industrious in trade and occupations.  This was typical of the Africans, both slave and free, in

all parts of the New Territory.  Even though the strictest methods were used to keep them in ignorance and illiteracy, several incidents indicative of the skillful, tactful, and intelligent Africans in this country are depicted by noted historical writers.  Most miraculous of all this is how African overcame a suffering handicap, long and inhumane, in comparison with the Indian whom the white man was never able to subject to slavery.

 

THE ADVENT OF THE METHODISTS

                 In 1766, when Irishman Philip Embury, who had been licensed by John Wesley, held the first Methodist meeting on American soil in his home on Augustus Street (then Barrack Street), exhorting to an audience of five, one black person was present.  She was Betty, the slave of Barbara Heck, who had requested the meeting of her fellow countryman out of necessity to save their people from “hell."  They sang and prayed while Mr. Embury instructed them in doctrines of salvation.  From this meeting they formed themselves into a class, of which he became the leader, and resolved to attend regularly at his house for further instructions.  As they grew, their slaves and other Africans were privileged to join the movement. With the arrival of Captain Webb, an officer in the British military, the congregation out grew the modest room they had rented and they soon obtained a more commodious facility for meeting, and a little later, moved into a Rigging or Sail Loft at 120 William Street.  It was there that Philip Embury and Captain Webb preached a full, free and present salvation.

 

ZION’S BEGINNINGS

As early as 1780 classes were organized for all black members.  To the African members, it was a kind of caste system (that hated and repugnant system that presupposes that some people are inferior to others and supposedly justified mistreatment by their "superiors").  The African classes were organized under the supervision of white leaders.  However, they at times met secretly to discuss strategies for their independence.  For they realized that if they could have separate classes or societies, they could ultimately have a separate church.  They felt that they could conduct their own affairs, move in their own direction and care for their own needs. 

As the African American membership increased, they desired the privilege of holding worship meetings of their own, where they might have an opportunity to exercise their spiritual gifts among themselves, and thereby be more useful one to the other. They obtained permission from Bishop Francis Asbury to hold meetings among themselves each Sunday during the intervals of the regular preaching hours of John Street Church.

 

                             

THE NINE LEADERS of this movement were Francis Jacobs, William Brown, Peter Williams, Abraham Thompson, June Scott, Samuel Pontier, Thomas Miller, James Varick, and William Hamilton.  They rented a house on Cross Street, between Mulberry and Orange Streets, which formerly was a stable, and was occupied by William Miller as a cabinet-maker’s shop.  They fitted the house with seats, pulpit and gallery.

                 On Sunday afternoon, October 9, 1796 they held their first service.  In this house they held prayer meetings on Sunday afternoons, preaching and exhorting meetings on Wednesday nights by their brethren as were licensed to preach and exhort.  Three licensed preachers and one exhorter among this founding group officiated as they had opportunity.

THEY CONTINUED in this way until 1799 when the number of African American members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of New York City increased.  As the seats in the church among the white members were limited, they began to think about building a house of worship for themselves, and to form themselves into a corporate body, separate from the white church, according to the privilege granted to religious societies by the laws of the State of New York. Accordingly, they decided to appoint nine trustees to attend to the business of building a house of worship. The first church was erected in October, 1809, a frame building, 35 by 45 feet, on property purchased by the trustees on the corner of Church and Leonard Streets, and was dedicated for the House God, and named the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.  They soon outgrew this building, and by 1818 constructed their second building.

 

ZION’S REASONS FOR BEING

                

THE MAIN PURPOSES for the establishment of the A.M.E. Zion church, in addition to religion, were to give oppressed peoples an opportunity for growth and development in all dimensions of their lives.  In a meeting held by Abraham Thompson, James Varick, the following was decided:             

 

We decline receiving any further services from them (The Methodist Church) as respects our church government.  They then informed the ruling Elders in the City of New York of this decision and the resolutions accompanying it.  This day, Friday, July 12 1820 was the beginning of complete severance from the Methodist Episcopal Church, which formed itself into this independent group.

 

From The Founder’ Address to the Members of the African Methodist Episcopal [Zion} Church in America are summarized the reasons for the establishment of The Church:

 

I.  Under the government of the Methodist Episcopal Church African preachers would never be able to enjoy   

     the privileges which the discipline holds out to all its members.

 

 

II.  The usefulness of our Preachers has been hindered, and our brethren in general have deprived of those

      blessings which Almighty God may have been designed to grant them.

III. We believe that the formation of an itinerant plan and the establishment of a Conference for the African

      Methodist Preacher of the United States, who are not attached to any Conference of that nature would be  

      essential to the prosperity of the spiritual concerns of our colored brethren in general, and would be the

      means of advancing our preachers  (we are now in regular standing in connection with the white preachers

      of the Methodist Episcopal Church).

IV. We are under strong impression of mind that such measures would induce many of our brethren to attend

       divine worship, who are yet careless about their eternal welfare, and thereby prove effectual in the hands of

       God in the awakening and conversion of their souls to the knowledge of the truth.

V.  And whereas, Almighty God, in His all-wise and gracious providence, has recently offered a favorable

      opportunity, whereby these Societies may be regularly organized as an evangelical African Methodist

      Church, we have therefore resolved to embrace the said opportunity, and have agreed that the title of the

      Connection shall be the African Methodist Church in America.

VI. We have selected a form of discipline, with a little alteration from that of our Mother Church, which

      selection we recommend to you, or the Doctrines and Discipline of our church hoping that the great

      Shepherd and Bishop of souls, the all-wise and gracious God, will be pleased to approve of the above

      measures and grant that we may obtain and preserve those privileges which have been heretofore deprived

       of, that thereby we may unite our mutual efforts for the prosperity of the Redeemer’s Kingdom among us ,

      and for the encouragement of our colored brethren in the Ministry. Earnestly soliciting your prayers and

      united endeavors for the same, we remain your affectionate brethren and servants in the Kingdom of our

      ever-adorable Lord.

                 ABRAHAM THOMPSON

                 JAMES VARICK

                 WILLIAM MILLER

 

                                                                                                

After this change they were determined to have their preachers, whom they had elected elders long before, ordained.  Bishop Christopher Rush tells the dramatic story of the long series of petitions and conferences with the Methodist Church leaders for ordination and finally, he states:

The committee thus authorized, promptly went forward, and shortly obtained the consent of Doctors James Covel, Sylvester Hutchinson, and William M. Stilwell, all regularly ordained elders of the Methodist Church lately of established in this city, The Protestant Methodist Church).

On Monday night, June 17, 1822, they attended the appointed meeting in Zion Church, and after an appropriate and solemn sermon delivered by Dr. Covel, they ordained Abraham Thompson, James Varick, and Leven Smith elders in the Church of God, in the presence of a large respectable audience.  "Thus after 21 months of struggling through a kind of spiritual wilderness, Zion Church obtained three ordained elders thus set apart to elder’s orders proceeded to ordain others.”

 

VARICK AND SUCCESSORS

The work of development went forward with considerable rapidity under the supervision of the Reverend James Varick, the first regularly elected bishop of the Connection.  Varick was one of the nine official members who formed the Zion Church in a New York City in 1796.  He was the leading factor in the movement and in all succeeding steps leading to the establishment of a successful itinerant system.

Like Bishop Francis Asbury, he served as superintendent before he had received Holy orders; he had conducted the efforts of the societies successfully amid great difficulties, and has shown himself equal to every emergency.  Hence, when he, with others received holy orders, he was elected as first among his peers to superintend the Connection.

 LIKE MOSES, Varick led his people for about 40 years, for he was their class leader and a local preacher long before he formed them into a separate organization, He held meetings separate from the whites possibly as early as 1780.

We have only to read between the  lines of meager history which has come down to us to realize that the idea of a great Afro-American Church was conceived in the mind of James Varick, and that he, of all the men of his day, built most wisely.

His skillful hand is seen in the Act of Incorporation, drawn up in 1801, which secured independence of the church, and yet, while it protected the church property from the encroachments of white bishops, he managed to hold their friendship, or at least avoid their open hostility. (The Board of Bishops at the General Conference in 1872.)

FIRMNESS, PATIENCE, perseverance, forethought, caution, uprightness, and a phenomenal memory are the characteristics ascribed to Bishop Varick by Bishop John Jamison Moore.  The man who has all these characteristics is a remarkably uncommon human being, and yet they are just the qualities needed for the ordeal through which the foremost religious leader of the oppressed race in America had to pass.  He was elected Superintendent of the Connection, June 23, 1822, and served until his death in 1827.

AS JOSHUA followed Moses, so did Rush follow Varick.  He was elected second bishop of his connection at the General Conference, on May 18, 1828.  He served 24 years.  His retirement from the office some years before his demise was in consequence of the loss of his sight, which was not only grievous to him, but also to the Zion Connection.

He was an uncompromising foe to slavery, to intemperance, to American proscription of the colored citizen, Episcopal dominancy and to ecclesiastical oligarchy; equally uncompromising to human pride and

vanity. These first two bishops, associated by their elders, are largely responsible for the establishment of the

conferences in Northeastern America.  In the year of 1996 these bishops and their successors have numbered 95; among them were, and still are, men of magnitude and nobility; peerless leaders, organizing geniuses, outstanding thinkers, illustrious preachers, and dedicated servants of Christ.

 

FREEDOM AND EQUALITY

"If there had been no colored Church he would have had no opportunity for the development of his faculties, nor would he have had any platform on which to exhibit his vast possibilities," Bishop James Walker Hood wrote in 1895.

Among the A.M.E. Zion Church members have been some of the most outstanding pioneers of freedom, namely Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth in Kingston, NY, and New York City Harriet Tubman in Auburn, NY, and William Howard Day.

 

Frederick Douglass, the most remarkable man the race has produced, admitted that he was indebted to the A.M.E. Zion Church in New Bedford, Mass., for what he is: "as sexton, class leader, and local preacher in that church he received his inspiration, training, and send-off which have made him a world wonder." (Hood, One Hundred Years, 189).

 

The notable Harriet Tubman led over 300 slaves successfully to freedom through the Underground Railroad, Mother Zion Church, commonly referred to as the "cradle of freedom," was an Underground Railroad Station.

In the days of slavery, the Zion ministers were generally the leaders of anti-slavery movements and their pulpits were always open to the anti-slavery lecturer.  If no other house could be obtained for an anti-slavery meeting it was known that the Zion Church could be used. The doors of that church never closed against one who wanted to plead for the oppressed.  In fact, the leaders have always stood foremost in every movement to the advancement of the race.             

 

                 Bishop Alexander Walters was one of the founders of the NAACP, and to this present date, our bishops, ministers and laymen have assumed leading roles in the ongoing progress of the organization.  Bishop Stephen Gill Spottswood, during the height of the Civil Right Movement, served on the National Board of Directors of the NAACP from 1955 to 1961 and its Chairman from April 10, 1961 until his death in December, 1974.

 

Zion Leaders Meet with Bishop Francis Asbury Seeking Permission for Separate Services

A.M.E. Zion Quarterly Review