Black Methodist Church timeline

1784 -- On behalf of John Wesley, Francis Asbury organized the Methodist Episcopal Church Dec. 24 in Baltimore, a church open to all Christians.
1800 -- Black preachers were ordained in the Methodist church as deacons and as elders in 1812.
As slavery became accepted, especially in the South, discrimination against black Methodists became common.
Many black people wanted their own denomination, a church more responsive to their needs. Two new branches of Methodism resulted:
1816 -- The African Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in Philadelphia by one of the great early black leaders, former slave Richard Allen.
1820 -- The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was founded in New York by Peter Williams.
During the Civil War (1861-65) blacks were welcomed in most northern white churches; however, in the South, separate church seating for blacks and whites came into practice.
1939 -- A "Uniting Conference" took place in Kansas City, Mo. It was an effort to bring back together north and south Methodist Episcopal Churches into one denomination, the Methodist Church. Ironically, the Central Conference was created at the same time, thereby segregating black members and churches from the other "white" conferences.
1968 -- The Methodist Church was restructured and the Central Conference was eliminated, thereby -- at least officially -- fully integrating the denomination. Annual Conferences were established based on geography rather than race. At the same time, the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren Churches merged into one, new entity, The United Methodist Church
New wording in the Discipline was added, officially declaring, ". all persons, without regard to race, color, national origin, or economic condition shall be. admitted into its membership in any local church in the connection." Lynne DeMichele

Last updated on 01/14/2004

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