Mother Zion Church

Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, also known as “Mother Zion,” is the oldest Black church in the US, founded in 1796 by African-American residents of New York City. The church was founded as an act of resistance to the predominately white membership of John Street Methodist Church. Although the John Street Methodist Church was abolitionist in orientation, the “colored members” of their congregation were not free to pray and “could not receive communion until all the white members, even children, had been communed.”

From 1800 to 1864, the Mother Zion congregation worshiped on Church Street. In 1864, they were moved to a frame building on the corner of Bleecker and West 10th Streets, where it was known as a “freedom church,” a safe stop for slaves traveling along the Underground Railroad.

In 1853, congregants laid the cornerstone for a church in the community of Seneca Village. The sanctuary was a wood structure with a basement that housed a schoolroom for the education of Black children. Seneca Village allowed many Black individuals to become landowners, and as such, granted them the legal right to vote. This self-sufficient community, through what can be termed as an “original act of imminent domain,” was displaced to utilize the land for what is now known as Central Park.

Early in the 20th century, the church moved to 140-6 West 137th Street in Harlem between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Lenox Avenue. The edifice, where the congregation continues to worship, is a neo-Gothic building (1923-1925) that was designed by George W. Foster, Jr., one of the first Black architects to be registered in the US.

Continuing a legacy of liberation theology, the congregation is committed to the wholeness of Central Harlem, and all persons of the Diaspora, through prophetic preaching, sound teaching, community outreach, and collaboration with like-minded partners. Currently, the church is pastored by the Reverend Dr. Malcolm J. Byrd.

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