HISTORICAL SOCIETY HISTORY

James Varick

The First Ordained Elders in the A.M.E. Zion Church

Leven J. Smith

Abraham Thompson

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY

 

             The A.M.E. Zion Historical Society was established in 1944 at the General Conference held at Detroit, Michigan.  Dr. Rufus E. Clement, then President of Atlanta University, was elected its first Secretary.  This arrangement lasted until 1956 when at that time Dr. David Bradley, then Editor of The A.M.E. Zion Quarterly Review, was elected part-time Secretary of the Historical Society.  In 1956 and 1971, Dr. Bradley published Vol. I and Vol. II (respectively) A History of The A.M.E. Zion Church. In 1968, Bishop William J. Walls was elected historiographer for the church and he published his The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church: The Reality of the Black Church in 1974.  In 1980, Dr. John H. Satterwhite succeeded Dr. Bradley.  During his administration, Dr. Satterwhite sought to train and establish a cadre of Historical Scholars.  In 1989, the Reverend James David Armstrong succeeded Dr. Satterwhite.  With the appointment of Bishop Richard K. Thompson as Chairman of the Public Relations and Historical Society Board in 1992, Heritage Hall at Livingstone College, Salisbury, NC, was designated the Official Archives of the A.M.E. Zion Church at the Connectional Council held in Rock Hill, SC, in 1993.

A.M.E. Zion Historical Society