African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church Collection
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Abstract
A small but rich collection of papers documenting the financial and administrative affairs of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church, one of Brooklyn's oldest African American congregations, organized between 1827 and 1835.
Historical Note
The A.M.E. Zion Church of Williamsburgh was located on North Second Street near Union Avenue, one of the borough's first neighborhoods inhabited in sizeable numbers by African Americans freed when New York State abolished slavery in 1827. Williamsburgh was a separate village, then a city, until it consolidated with Brooklyn in 1854.
The A.M.E. Zion Churches were a nationwide league of congregations founded in New York in 1820 by and for the African American religious community. Like the related, but separate, A.M.E. Churches, they were established and patronized by black Methodists who withdrew from the white-dominated Methodist churches as a reaction to the racism of the majority white Methodist community and to its reticence to take an organized stand against slavery as a religious issue. Members of the A.M.E. Zion Churches were actively involved in abolition work and were widely rumored to have used some of their church locations as covert Underground Railroad stations. The A.M.E. Zion Churches were progressive in other ways as well: in 1891, the A.M.E. Zion Church became one of the first major denominations to ordain women. Noted members of the nationwide A.M.E. Zion Churches included Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Jermain Loguen, and Frederick Douglass.
In 1885, Brooklyn's original A.M.E. Zion Church merged with a nearby congregation, the First A.M.E. Zion Church at Tompkins Avenue at McDonough Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant and relocated to its property. In March 1980, more than a hundred years after the A.M.E. Zion Church of Williamsburgh defaulted on its lease and lost its house of worship, the First A.M.E. Zion Church successfully paid off its final $54,000 mortgage payment, after which church officials burnt the mortgage documents in celebration.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in 5 folders, each in chronological order, as follows.
Folder 1: Mortgages, 1849-1854
Folder 2: Receipts & Financial Statements, 1856-1857
Folder 3: Miscellaneous Legal Documents, 1849-1857
Folder 4: Internal Church Documents, 1851-1855
Folder 5: Correspondence, 1854
Scope and Contents
Materials in this collection include mortgages, receipts & financial statements, miscellaneous legal documents, internal church documents, and correspondence. Most of the materials concern the Church's financial instability and reflect debts owed by the church and transfers of its property. The materials document African American church history in Brooklyn and offer evidence of early financial and business dealings within Brooklyn's free African American community. The collection contains many autograph documents signed by church officials and other legal authorities. Individuals whose names and/or autographs figure in this collection include: Oliver Fields, Peter Lee, Warren Mitchell, William Mitchell, Benjamin Portland, Lemuel Richardson, John G. Spence, Eugene Valentine, Major West, Thomas Wilson, and Thomas Worlds.
Subjects
Access
Collection is located in the Brooklyn Collection at the Central Branch at Grand Army Plaza. The collection may only be used in the library and is not available through interlibrary loan. Requests to view the collection must be made at least 48 hours in advance of visit. This collection contains fragile material which cannot be photocopied.
Use
While many items in the Brooklyn Collection are unrestricted, we do not own reproduction rights to all materials. Be aware of the several kinds of rights that might apply: copyright, licensing and trademarks. The researcher assumes all responsibility for copyright questions.
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church Collection, Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Public Library.
Provenance
Acquired from Waiting for Godot Books, January 1999.
