Goodwin Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church | |
![]() | |
Location | Amherst, Massachusetts |
---|---|
Coordinates | 42°22′15″N72°31′23″W / 42.37083°N 72.52306°W |
Built | 1910 |
Architectural style | Bungalow/Craftsman |
NRHP reference No. | 00000416 [1] |
Added to NRHP | April 28, 2000 |
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.
After the American Civil War, many African Americans migrated north to escape the discriminatory laws and violence of the South. Despite improved social conditions in northern states, African Americans largely remained second-class citizens. Houses of worship aided African American individuals struggling to build a sense of community, identity, and autonomy. This process occurred in Amherst with the creation of the Zion Chapel, built on Amherst College property in 1869. The African American congregation was primarily drawn from the area of Amherst now known as the Westside Historic District, encompassing sections of Baker and Snell streets, Northampton Road, and Hazel Avenue.
As the African American community expanded and the white congregation diminished, Zion members organized in the early 1900s to construct a new church with no affiliation to the college. The Zion members were initially denied independence by a regional conference of Congregational churches; however, members of Zion Chapel, including Moses and Anna Goodwin, refused to wait for approval. They formed a congregation of their own, calling themselves Union Church. They found a space to worship in the Amherst Town Hall. During their time in the town hall, community members solicited the support of local citizens and sympathetic members of the college community to secure funds for a building of their own. Booker T. Washington visited in 1904 to help raise additional funds.
Fundraising efforts produced a total of $611.10, which the Union Church used to buy a parcel of land in 1907. In the same year, the Union Church became officially affiliated with the national African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Organization, whose theological beliefs challenged the notion that African Americans were second-class citizens. In 1909, the parcel transferred to Moses Goodwin who owned it during the time of construction of the church in 1910. Construction was completed in the summer of 1910 and the cornerstone was laid during a dedication ceremony on July 10, 1910, celebrating the African American community's successful efforts to gain independence.
Moses Goodwin (1854-1923) was a local African American community leader who owned a bicycle repair and locksmith shop in Amherst town center. He was born in South Carolina and moved to Amherst after the Civil War along with many other African Americans. In 1891, Moses married Anna Reed (1869-1943), affectionately known throughout town as “Ma” Goodwin. She ran the “Colonial Inn,” a boarding house for Amherst College students and gained local fame for her cooking, especially apple pie. Moses and Anna had three daughters: Olive, Amy, and Ruth.
In 1914, Moses Goodwin transferred ownership of the land and building to the trustees of the church. He remained extremely active in the church, serving as a trustee, treasurer, and benefactor of the A.M.E. Zion Church.
The Goodwin family were regular attendees and active members of the church community. Anna Goodwin was also a core member of the church community, serving on the musical committee of Zion Chapel before joining the A.M.E. Zion Church. According to Moses’ daughter, Ruth, the church was a core element of African American community life in Amherst. Often Sundays at the church were filled with social and religious activities that lasted all day. Amy directed the choir of the A.M.E. Zion Church for a time, thus perpetuating the musical tradition in the family. Ruth regularly attended the church until her death in 1993.
In 1967, the church was renamed Moses Goodwin Memorial A.M.E. Zion church in honor of Moses Goodwin and his family for their long-time service to the church and to the African American community of Amherst.
Goodin Memorial Church continues to be a valuable religious and cultural institution in the Amherst community. In addition to regularly scheduled services and bible study sessions, the church hosts community events, such as baptisms, weddings, and funerals. As such, the church itself functions as a unifying force among the Goodwin congregation, creating a strong sense of community.
As Ruth Goodwin described in an interview on WGBY-TV in 1994, the church was a core element of African American community life in Amherst and was often a whole day affair on Sundays with both religious and social activities taking place. The church gained local fame for the fried chicken dinners prepared by members of the congregation in the church's basement kitchen. These meals were part of an annual fundraiser on the Town Common, and they would sell out every year.
Families - and specifically children - are an integral part of the church community and its history. Sunday school, vacation bible school, and children's services all foster a family-oriented ethic that continues to characterize Goodwin Memorial.
Music was, and continues to be, a central feature of these activities with the church choir as a vital aspect of the community. The church choir is a vital and dynamic part of the Goodwin community. Many in the present Goodwin congregation have fond memories related to the musical activities of the church which include a gospel and a bell choir.
Goodwin was visited by an A.M.E. Zion Church Bishop for the first time in over one hundred years on Sunday, September 21, 2014. Bishop Mildred B. Hines is the first woman elected as bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. She spoke at the service to an enthusiastic and appreciative crowd of Goodwin members and guests. The event was covered by a local news station and, following the service, community members and Bishop Hines gathered together at a reception to commemorate the occasion.
The Goodwin Memorial chapel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. [1] The architecture reflects the informal Craftsman design principles popular at the time of its construction in 1910, namely the exposed rafter ends, ridge-hipped roof, and shingled walls and roof. [2] The foundation is made of rubble stone, and contains a cornerstone engraved with “1910 A.M.E. Church.”
The interior of the church contains a stained glass window with a diamond pattern and the initials, “PH,” commemorating the life of Pearl Hawkins, a well-known parishioner who was very active in the church in the 1970s. The church is a good example of religious vernacular architectural design and construction, as opposed to some of the more formal religious structures in the Amherst area. The structure has remained largely unchanged since its construction. [2]
On November 1, 2014, Goodwin church became the first chapel to be included in the Amherst Historical Society's annual Tour of Historic Homes. During the event, visitors were greeted by Reverend Margaret Lawson and members of the congregation and treated to a selection of hymns performed by the church choir.
The Methodist Episcopal Church, South was the American Methodist denomination resulting from the 19th-century split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Disagreement on this issue had been increasing in strength for decades between churches of the Northern and Southern United States; in 1845 it resulted in a schism at the General Conference of the MEC held in Louisville, Kentucky.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Methodist denomination based in the United States. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexional polity. It cooperates with other Methodist bodies through the World Methodist Council and Wesleyan Holiness Connection.
The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (C.M.E.C.) is a Methodist denomination that is based in the United States. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology. Though historically a part of the black church, the Christian Methodist Episcopal today has a church membership of people from all racial backgrounds.
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.
The black church is the faith and body of Christian denominations and congregations in the United States that predominantly minister to, and are also led by African Americans, as well as these churches' collective traditions and members. The term "black church" may also refer to individual congregations, including in traditionally white-led denominations.
Daniel Alexander Payne was an American bishop, educator, college administrator and author. A major shaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), Payne stressed education and preparation of ministers and introduced more order in the church, becoming its sixth bishop and serving for more than four decades (1852–1893) as well as becoming one of the founders of Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1856. In 1863, the AME Church bought the college and chose Payne to lead it; he became the first African-American president of a college in the United States and served in that position until 1877.
The Allen Temple AME Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, US, is the mother church of the Third Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Founded in 1824, it is the oldest operating black church in Cincinnati and the largest church of the Third Episcopal District of the AME Church.
The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and Parsonage is an historic church and parsonage at 6 Sever Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The congregation, founded in 1866, is one of a small number of African Methodist Episcopal (AME) congregations in eastern Massachusetts, and is an enduring component of the small African-American community in Plymouth. Its church, built about 1840 as a commercial building and consecrated in 1870, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
The Evans Memorial Chapel is an historic chapel on the campus of the University of Denver in Colorado. It is the oldest continuously-used building for religious purposes in Denver. Completed in 1878, the Evans Memorial Chapel was built with patronage by John Evans in honor of his daughter Josephine. Evans was governor of the Colorado Territory and a founder of the Colorado Seminary. Once part of Grace Church, a prominent Methodist Episcopal congregation on 13th Avenue and Bannock in downtown Denver, the small Gothic Revival chapel was moved to the University of Denver's campus in 1959. It reopened there in April 1960, and is now the campus's oldest building. It currently serves as an interdenominational chapel and wedding venue.
Thomas James (1804–1891) had been a slave who became an African Methodist Episcopal Zion minister, abolitionist, administrator and author. He was active in New York and Massachusetts with abolitionists, and served with the American Missionary Association and the Union Army during the American Civil War to supervise the contraband camp in Louisville, Kentucky. After the war, he held national offices in the AME Church and was a missionary to black churches in Ohio. While in Massachusetts, he challenged the railroad's custom of forcing blacks into second-class carriages and won a reversal of the rule in the State Supreme Court. He wrote a short memoir published in 1886.
The British Methodist Episcopal Church (BMEC) is a Protestant church in Canada that has its roots in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC) of the United States.
Hood African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church founded in 1848 is an historic African Methodist Episcopal Zion church located in Oyster Bay, New York. It is the oldest continuous congregation holding services in its original church structure in Oyster Bay. A small wood-frame building was constructed on this site in 1856. Later the church was renamed to honor an early bishop, the Right Reverend James Walker Hood. In 1937, the wooden church was covered with the brick exterior you see today. From 1937 to 1963 the pastor was Reverend Moses T. Smith. Today the congregation is led by Reverend Kenneth Nelson, who came to the Hood AME Zion Church in 1981. Reverend Kenneth Nelson retired in June, 2013 and the Reverend Linda B. Vanager was appointed to the Pastoral charge.
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is a historic African Methodist Episcopal Church in Springtown, New Jersey, United States. The church was part of two free negro communities, Othello and Springtown, established by local Quaker families, like the Van Leer Family. The congregation was established in 1810 in Greenwich Township as the African Methodist Society and joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1817. A previous church building was burned down in the 1830s in an arson incident and the current structure was built between 1838 and 1841.
The Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, also known as "Mother Zion", located at 140–148 West 137th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Lenox Avenue in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, is the oldest African-American church in New York City, and the "mother church" of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion conference.
The Theological Building at A.M.E. Zion Theological Institute was a historic African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church school building on East Conecuh Street in Greenville, Alabama. This later became part of Lomax-Hannon Junior College. The building was built in 1911 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The Theological Building was demolished in 2014.
The Clinton African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is a historic church at 9 Elm Court in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It was the first African American church in Berkshire County, and it was a place where noted Great Barrington native W.E.B. Du Bois is known to have attended services. The Shingle style church was completed in 1887, and continues to serve as a center of African American worship in southern Berkshire County.
Jeffery Tribble is an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and a professor of ministry with research interests in Practical Theology, Congregational Studies and Leadership, Ethnography, Evangelism and Church Planting, Black Church Studies, and Urban Church Ministry. Academics and professionals in these fields consider him a renowned thought leader. Tribble's experience in pastoral ministry allows for his work to bridge the gap between academic research and practical church leadership.
Roberts Memorial United Methodist Church is the second oldest Black congregation in Alexandria, Virginia. Founded in 1834 and originally known as Davis Chapel, it has served a mostly Black community for almost two centuries. It is a member of the United Methodist Church.
John Wesley Alstork was an American religious leader and African-American community organizer. He was a preacher and bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and is considered one of the most successful bishops of his church, in part due to his skills at organizing national conferences. He also was a trustee at several schools for African-Americans, and a businessman. He lived in Montgomery, Alabama.