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Montclair African-American Churches 1880-2001

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MONTCLAIR AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY RESOURCE GUIDE Elizabeth Shepard Editor/Author Asantewaa Gail Harris and Kenneth French Co-Authors Montclair Public Library Montclair, New Jersey Copyright © 2002 Montclair Free Public Library ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The African American presence in Montclair has a rich history. The Montclair Free Public Library expresses special gratitude to all of the participants who opened their hearts to share their lives in the oral history interviews and those who shared their organization's histories for this project. The Library thanks the following people for their hard work and dedication to this project: The following volunteers -- Laura Krause and Kathryn Hammond, graduate students at Montclair State University; Josephine Bonomo, retired journalist and Montclair native; and Rose Ferguson -- assisted with conducting oral history interviews and preliminary research on the organizations. Clement Price, a history professor at Rutgers University served as consultant, advisor, and assisted with training the volunteers for the oral history project. James Boylan and his students in the Montclair State University Visual Anthropology program photographed the churches and the organizations' buildings. Research assistants Kenneth French and Asantewaa Gail Harris assisted with conducting oral histories and researching the organizations and churches. The Library would also like to thank the New Jersey Historical Commission and New Jersey Council for the Humanities for funding the Montclair African- American History Resource Guide and Montclair African-American Oral History Projects. Thanks are also owed to Nancy Hutchinson, Mary Lou Skillin, Cheryl M. McCoy, Carol Robinson, Michael Connell, Ronald Murphy, and the rest of the staff at the Montclair Free Public Library. Elizabeth Shepard Local History Archivist 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction page 5 Montclair African American Churches (Churches are organized chronologically by their founding dates) Historical Introduction pages 6-9 St. Mark's United Methodist Church pages 10-13 Union Baptist Church pages 14-17 St. Paul Baptist Church pages 18-21 Trinity United Presbyterian Church pages 22-25 Trinity Episcopal Church pages 26-28 Bright Hope Baptist Church pages 29-31 Trinity Temple Church of God in Christ pages 32-34 St. Peter Claver Church pages 35-38 Church of Christ pages 39-40 Montclair African-American Organizations (Organizations are organized chronologically by their founding dates) Historical Introduction pages 41-44 Washington Street Branch YMCA pages 45-51 YWCA of Montclair-North Essex pages 52-56 Montclair Branch of NAACP pages 57-63 Neighborhood Center/Council Inc pages 64-68 Crawford Crews-American Legion Post 251 pages 69-72 Montclair Civil Rights Commission pages 73-77 North Jersey Men's Club pages 78-80 National Council of Negro Women-Montclair pages 81-84 Hollow Day Care Center/Kennedy Human Relations Project pages 85-92 Montclair Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta pages 93-95 Montclair Grassroots Inc pages 96-100 NICHE pages 101-105 African-American Heritage Day Parade and Festival Committee pages 106-108 3 Montclair Civil Rights Coalition pages 109-113 Desegregation of the Montclair Public Schools pages 114-120 Montclair African-American Oral History Collection Historical Introduction pages 121-133 Oral History Summaries pages 134-143 Additional Resources pages 144-152 Index pages 153-163 4 MONTCLAIR AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY RESOURCE GUIDE INTRODUCTION The purpose of this guide is twofold: 1. To introduce researchers, including the general public, students and scholars, to the history of the Montclair African-American community. It is not intended as an exhaustive history, but rather as an introduction to the historical background of the African-American organizations and churches in Montclair. 2. To serve as a guide to historical resources available for researchers at either the Montclair Public Library or at the organizations' facilities. The guide is divided into four sections: African-American Churches, African-Ame1ican Organizations, Montclair African-American Oral History Collection, and Additional Resources. "African-American Churches" and "Organizations" have histories on nine churches and fourteen organizations in Montclair. Each history includes an historical summary and a list of historical resources. Some histories include oral history excerpts from the Montclair African-American Oral History Project. "Montclair African-American Oral History Collection" contains summaries and excerpts from thirty interviews of Montclair African-American residents conducted during the Oral History Project. "Additional Resources" provides lists of other historical material on African-Americans in Montclair and New Jersey at the Montclair Public Library. This project was funded by two grants. The New Jersey Historical Commission sponsored the overall Montclair African-American History Resource Guide Project, and the New Jersey Council for the Humanities funded the Montclair African-American Oral History Project. 5 MONTCLAIR AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHURCHES 1880-2001 St. Mark’s United Methodist Church History by Elizabeth Shepard MONTCLAIR AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHURCHES HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION The African-American population in Montclair began to grow in the 1870s as African- Americans migrated from the South to the North looking for a better life. By 1880, the first African-American church, St. Mark's United Methodist Church, was established in Montclair and was followed by the Union Baptist Church in 1887. The third church, St. Paul Baptist Church arrived on the scene around 1897. These three churches grew steadily, addressing the spiritual needs of the African-American population in the early years of the Montclair African-American community. As the African-American population continued to grow during the first half of the twentieth century, more African-American churches of different denominations were established. Trinity United Presbyterian Church, founded in nearby Bloomfield in 1913, and Trinity Episcopal Church, founded in 1916, both had large populations of people from the West Indies as well as African-American members. Another Methodist church, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, was founded at 22 Hartley Street around 1914. According to the city directories, the Emanuel A. M. E. Church moved several times, to 11 Mission Street around 1920, to 6 Mission Street around 1928, and to 44 Maple Street in 1933. The church disappeared from the city directories in 1937 and reappears again in 1965. Today the church conducts worship at 15 Hartley Street. In the late 1920s and 1930s, more Baptist churches were established, including Bright Hope Baptist Church in 1921 and Rising Mt. Zion Baptist Church in 1938. James A. Jackson founded Rising Mt. Zion Baptist Church. The church congregation worshiped at several locations in Montclair. From 1950-1969, a church was located at 27 Monroe Place. Rev. Myrtle C. Jackson served the church from 1964-1995. Rev. James Johnson and sixty members founded the New Calvary Baptist Church in November 1921. The first building was on Belmont Avenue in the Silver Lake section of Belleville, N.J. The church's first location in Montclair was at Glenfield School. The church first appears in the Montclair city directories at its present location, 72 Maple Avenue, in 1929. The ministers included Rev. James Johnson (1921-1924), Rev. E. E. Elliot (1924-1932), Rev. Dandridge L. Flounoy (1932-1935, 1943-1970), Rev. Pratt (1937), Rev. Earl Paul Jones (1937-1941), Rev. Shellie Sampson Jr. (1970-1982), Rev. George Fair (1984-1989), and Rev. Clenard Childress, Jr. (1989- ). ("History of New Calvary Church," 2001, !) Several Pentecostal and evangelical churches were established in the 1930s. First Church Of God In Christ was established at 22 Hartley Street in 1922, and moved to 10 Hartley Street around 1933. Trinity Temple Church Of God In Christ started in Caldwell in 1930. Jerusalem Church at 61 New Street was established in 1931. The church changed its name to New Jerusalem Apostolic Church around 1961; today the church is called New Jerusalem Holiness Church. Apostolic Holiness Church started at 11 Mission Street 7 in 1931. Sister W.M. Gaymon was the long-time leader of this congregation, serving until around 1941. The church was called Apostolic Faith Church at 129 Maple Street in 1945; it disappears from the Montclair telephone books in the 1980s. The First Seventh Day Adventist started at 84 Maple Avenue around 1935 and moved to 90 Mission Street around 1949. Alpha and Omega Tabernacle at 22 Woodland Avenue was established by Jeremiah Goodwin around 1937 and disappears from the telephone books in the 1980s. Other Protestant churches were established in the second half of the twentieth century: Randolph Chapel American Methodist Zion at 89 Maple Avenue around 1947-1951, St. Paul's Seventh Day Christian Church at 205 Glenridge Avenue around 1963 and Bethel Gospel Hall at 18 Washington Street in 1961. In 1964, pioneer evangelist Howard Johnson founded the Church of Christ in Montclair. In 1967, The Scripture Church was founded at 110 Bloomfield Avenue. Emanuel Hope Baptist was founded around 1983. Other churches established in recent years include Praise, Power and Prayer at 7 Oak Street, Sword of the Spirit Christian Church at 100 Alexander Avenue, Temple of United Christians at 29 Woodland Avenue and Universal House of Prayer at 33 Woodland Avenue. African-American Catholics began worshiping at St. Peter Claver Church on Elm Street
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