Exodus

Born out of rebellion and civil disobedience, the African Methodist Episcopal Church has nurtured Black resistance for more than two centuries. The church started in Philadelphia as one of the first Black Christian denominations in the country. Today, the fight continues.

Part 1:

As told to Layla A. Jones and Zoe Greenberg

The events that led to the founding of Mother Bethel are still in play in this country today.

By 1786, Richard Allen had arrived in Philly and started preaching at St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church. At that point, everybody could worship where they wanted.

By 1787, they had instituted a segregation policy where Blacks had to sit in the back. They were moved out of worship with white worshipers because of the color of their skin. And that is what led to Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and others leaving St. George's and founding what became the A.M.E. Church.

In 1830, right before Allen dies, he hosts the first colored convention, and what are they fighting for that whole time? Fair wages. They're fighting for access to education, they're fighting to secure the right to vote. You look at all the issues that they're dealing with then, we're still wrestling with not just the vestiges but, in some cases, outright in the open the same kind of issues.

So, yeah, I hope that there will be a day where the A.M.E. Church’s mission won't have to involve dealing with those issues, because that would mean that America is in a much better place.

Part 2:

As told to Zoe Greenberg and Layla A. Jones

Oftentimes, when we talk about Black church resistance, we go to more well-known figures like Dr. Martin Luther King and his stance on nonviolence. But there were other Black people within the Black church throughout history that believed in other methods. These stories are often not told because nonviolent resistance is a more comfortable story.

Slavery was a violent institution. And inside of this violent institution, Morris Brown establishes a church. You have a congregation of people that believe the Bible and that the only way to stop this violent institution is to violently overthrow it.

Denmark Vesey was a member of the congregation. He was utilizing Scripture to encourage parishioners to involve themselves in his plot to destroy the institution of slavery in Charleston. This plot doesn’t take place without the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The plan never actually happened because, for lack of better words, somebody told. That led to over 100 arrested and 35 that were killed, including Denmark Vesey. There were testimonies that were given by slaves that say Morris Brown “swore on the Bible never to divulge the secret.” In other words, he knew about it.

The church that he was pastoring was burned to the ground. That is when he flees to Philadelphia.

That church that he established in Charleston went underground for years. After the Civil War, they reemerged. It's now known as Mother Emanuel. It was where Dylann Roof walked in and killed those parishioners and the pastor, known as the Emanuel 9.

The power of Morris Brown and Denmark Vesey dismantles the notion that Christianity belongs to white people. Black people looked into the Bible and they found freedom in the fight against the institution of slavery. God was on their side.

Part 3:

As told to Layla A. Jones and Zoe Greenberg

I grew up in Greenville, North Carolina. My mom did domestic work and my dad was a barber. I never really voted in North Carolina — we had nowhere to go to register to vote. It wasn’t available to you to do it. Not just me, but Blacks period.

During the summers, there was nothing there to do for work. Unless you want to work in tobacco, pick cotton, or just do farm labor, which was only getting at that time $3 a day. You work eight hours. So most young people try to get away from there, to get better conditions and earn some money to pay for tuition. I went to A&T in North Carolina, Greensboro.

So there were about three or four of us — we decided to go to Wildwood, New Jersey. We went there three summers. And we stayed with a lady in Wildwood.

After I got out of college, I came to Philadelphia because she invited me to come.

The reason why I attended the A.M.E. church was because that lady that I was living with, that's where she was going. And that's how I got involved with the A.M.E. Church and I've been involved with it ever since.

I only voted in Pennsylvania. And ever since I first voted here, I voted every year since for any election, city or state or federal.

The church has people taking people to the polls, taking them to get registered. It’s very active in my church, and I would say the A.M.E. Church, period. They try to encourage people to get out and vote and emphasize the reason for your voting, because every vote does count.

Part 4:

As told to Layla A. Jones and Zoe Greenberg

The A.M.E. Church has always had a legacy of being involved in issues of social justice, of which voting has always been a major issue.

We have to see how voter turnout is in light of the Georgia legislature passing, and the governor signing, SB 202, what they call the Election Integrity Act. Problem with the Election Integrity Act is it doesn't have much integrity. The intention of the bill is to make it harder for Black and brown people to vote.

Originally they tried to abolish Sunday voting altogether, but we raised so much hell, they left it.

I think they saw that “Souls to the Polls” was very effective. People came to church on Sunday morning, and, following the church service, they got in a church van, they got on the church bus, they got in cars, and everybody went to vote. It was a way of helping to make sure that everybody in the church voted.

I view all of these bills which have been passed across the nation, including SB 202, as nothing more than an effort to punish Blacks for turning out in such large numbers to vote, and in Georgia, for turning it from red to blue.

They reduced the time frame you have to vote by absentee ballot and now require that you have a different kind of ID. With the ballot drop boxes, they reduced the number and placed them in different parts of the state, where it's difficult for some people to get to. During early voting, any citizen can challenge any number of other citizens’ right to vote.

The Black church doesn't view there being anything wrong with politics. The church has a responsibility – to: one, register; two, educate; three, mobilize; four, organize; and five, protect our people’s right to vote.

A More Perfect Union is a special project from The Inquirer examining the roots of systemic racism through institutions founded in Philadelphia. Read the series →