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Charles Street AME Church

Boston, MA, US • 5 - 9 Employees
Religious Groups

The Historic Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church is interwoven with the history of African Americans in Boston. In 1818, a small group of free African Americans began gathering in a small house on Beacon Hill to give birth to the First African Methodist Episcopal Society. The Reverend Noah Caldwell W. Cannon, a firebrand itinerant preacher who traveled throughout New England, was the leading force in the creation of this new church and in 1833 he began serving as its first pastor. The young church met at several locations on Beacon Hill during its early years. In 1838, the First A.M.E. Society was received into the membership in the New York Conference. In the same year, the church, led by Reverend Cannon, submitted a petition for incorporation to the Massachusetts Legislature. From this modest beginning, the congregation moved to several temporary locations on Beacon Hill. The Reverend Henry J. Johnson was assigned to the Church in 1843, and he led the effort to purchase the first permanent edifice for the congregation on Anderson Street.In the years leading up to the Civil War, the church served as a major gathering place for abolition meetings and rallies led by such individuals as William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Wendell Phillips, Charles Summer and David Walker (a Charles Street member). The Church led the local fight against the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law and other forms of oppression against people of African descent. The church was a haven for former slaves and a transit point on the freedom trail for runaway slaves fleeing to Canada. With each succeeding pastor, the church grew in size and prominence in the political and civic affairs of Boston. The dramatic growth led to the need for a larger building to serve the spiritual and social needs of the African American community.