Frank Basile Emerging Stories Premiere featuring Manón Voice: Bethel AME Church
Category: Event Calendar
Date and Time for this Past Event
- Sunday, Nov 5, 2023 4pm - 5pm
Location
Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center
450 West Ohio Street
Details
Our newest Frank Basile Emerging Stories Fellow, Manón Voice, brings us the story of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest African-American congregation in Indianapolis.The church was organized in 1836 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
In her piece, Voice researched the connections of Bethel AME with the Underground Railroad and the anti-slavery movement before the Civil War. Some historians believe the congregations’ support of the abolitionist movement caused the church to be burned in 1862. Still, Bethel AME remained a stalwart of hope in the African-American community in Indianapolis through its commitment to education and community outreach. The church also became a meeting place for local chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs in the early 1900s.
