The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a predominantly African-American Methodist denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexional polity. The African Methodist Episcopal Church is the first independent Protestant denomination to be founded by black people, though it welcomes and has members of all ethnicities. It was founded by Richard Allen (1760–1831) - later elected and ordained first bishop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from calling together of five black congregations of the earlier established Methodist Episcopal Church on the East Coast / Middle-Atlantic states area in the first General Conference, who wanted to escape the discrimination that was commonplace in society. It was among the first denominations in the United States to be founded for this reason, rather than for theological distinctions, and has persistently advocated for the civil and human rights of African Americans through social improvement, religious autonomy, and political engagement, while always being open to people of all racial backgrounds. Allen, an previously ordained Deacon in the Methodist Episcopal Church, was elected by the gathered ministers and ordained / consecrated as its first bishop in 1816 by the first General Conference of the five churches - extending from the three in the Philadelphia area in Pennsylvania to one in Delaware and one in Maryland of Baltimore. The denomination then expanded west and through the South, particularly after the American Civil War (1861–1865). By 1906, the AME had a membership of about 500,000, more than the combined total of the two other predominantly Black American denominations - the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, making it the largest major African-American denomination of the Methodist traditions.
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, or the AME Zion Church (AMEZ) is a historically African-American Christian denomination based in the United States. It was officially formed in 1821 in New York City, but operated for a number of years before then. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology.
Black Methodism in the United States is the Methodist tradition within the Black Church, largely consisting of congregations in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) and African Methodist Episcopal Zion denominations.
Harriet Tubman National Historical Park is a US historical park in Auburn and Fleming, New York, associated with the life of Harriet Tubman. It comprises three properties: the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged, in Auburn; the nearby Harriet Tubman Residence ; and the Thompson A.M.E. Zion Church in Auburn. They are located at 180 and 182 South Street, and 90 Franklin Street, respectively. The Zion Church unit is administered by the National Park Service (NPS), while the South Street properties, including a historic barn and a visitor center, are jointly managed and operated by both the NPS and the Harriet Tubman Home, Inc. The church also works with the NPS in park operations. The Harriet Tubman Grave in nearby Fort Hill Cemetery is not part of the park.
The Goodwin Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is a historic church on Woodside Avenue in Amherst, Massachusetts. It is a member of the National African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church denomination, which is historically African American and began in the United States. The history of the Goodwin Memorial African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church in Amherst, Massachusetts is an important part of the broader context of African American history. The A.M.E. Zion denomination was created in conjunction with growing African American identities. Locally, the Goodwin Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church is one of the few physical structures that speaks to the rich African American history and heritage in the town of Amherst and surrounding areas.
Campbell Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church or with AME abbreviation may refer to:
Gaston Chapel is a historic African Methodist Episcopal church located at 100 Bouchelle Street in Morganton, Burke County, North Carolina. It was built from 1900 to 1911, and is a brick church building with a high-pitched hip roof and Late Gothic Revival style design influences. It features a Gothic-arched tripartite stained-glass window. It is the oldest extant, and first substantial, African-American church structure in Burke County.
St. Peter's AME Zion Church is a historic African Methodist Episcopal church located at 615 Queen Street in New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina. It was built between 1923 and 1942, on the site of the 1914 church building which was destroyed by fire in 1922. It is a large three bay by seven bay, rectangular brick church building in the Late Gothic Revival style. It features a gabled nave flanked by two-story truncated stair towers. Also on the property is the contributing 1926 parsonage; a 2+1⁄2-story, frame American Craftsman style dwelling. It is known within the denomination as the "Mother Church of Zion Methodism in the South," and the oldest existing African Methodist Episcopal congregation in the South.
Evans Metropolitan AME Zion Church is a historic African Methodist Episcopal church located at 301 N. Cool Spring Street in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina. It was built in 1893–1894, and is a five bay, rectangular brick building in the Gothic Revival style. The front facade features flanking towers. Also on the property is a contributing house built in 1913 used as an office/administration building. It is a two-story frame house with a hipped roof and wraparound porch.
Goler Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, also known as Old Goler, is a historic African Methodist Episcopal Zion church located at 630 Patterson Avenue in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina. It was built in 1918–1919, and is a rectangular brick building in the Late Gothic Revival style. It features a gable-front block flanked by two square brick towers and stained glass windows. A two-story annex was built in 1946. In 1942, the Goler Metropolitan AME Zion Church congregation split from the Goler Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.
Goler Metropolitan AME Zion Church, originally known as East Fourth Street Baptist Church, is a historic African Methodist Episcopal Zion church located at 1435 E. Fourth Street in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina. It was built in 1924, and is a front-gabled brick church with two prominent domed towers and flanking one-story hipped-roof wings in the Classical Revival style. The front facade features a prominent pedimented porch supported by stuccoed Doric order columns and Ionic order pilasters. The interior is based on the Akron Plan. The building was acquired by an African-American congregation split from the Goler Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in 1942. The congregation changed their name to Goler Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church in 1953.
Clinton AME Zion Church is a historic African Methodist Episcopal church located at Johnson and Church Streets in Kershaw, Lancaster County, South Carolina. It was built in 1909, and is a one-story, T-shaped, Gothic Revival style frame structure covered with clapboard siding and has a brick pier foundation with concrete block infill. It was the first separate black church established in Kershaw in the early-20th century.
Pikeville Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is a historic African-American church on E. Valley Drive in Pikeville, Tennessee.
Olive Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church is a historic church built in 1899, and located at 309 S. Harrison Avenue in Kirkwood, Missouri. It is the oldest Protestant church in Kirkwood. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 20, 2004.
Thomas Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church is a historic African Methodist Episcopal church located at Black Mountain, Buncombe County, North Carolina. It was built in 1922 by descendants of freed slaves, and is a one-story, frame building with Gothic Revival design influences. It is sheathed in weatherboard and features a tall, pyramidal-roof bell tower.
The Mary E. Bell House is a historic house at 66 Railroad Avenue approximately 1/10th mile south of the Long Island rail road in Center Moriches, Long Island, New York. Built in 1872 by Selah Smith of Huntington who purchased the land, it is significant in the area of ethnic history for the Smith and Bell families and the African-American AME Zion community of Center Moriches during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. It is under the Stewardship of the Ketcham Inn Foundation.
Campbell Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church is a historic church and congregation in Bluffton, South Carolina.
