One of the nation's oldest and most important churches celebrates its 200th anniversary this year.   In 1808, 15 "people of colour"  who were members of  New York City's First Baptist Church decided it wasn't appropriate for God's house to have segregated seating and left to form their own church with the assistance of some Ethiopian merchants.  The new church's name came from the ancient name for Ethiopia -- Abyssinia.  Rev. Vanvelser was the church's first pastor.

The exact seating arrangements First Baptist Church used aren't known, but many white dominated churches at the time required black members to sit in the back or in the balcony if the church had a balcony.   Abyssinian wasn't the first black church in New York, but it was the first black Baptist Church.  Mother AME Zion church had been established 12 years earlier in 1796.  Abyssinian would be followed a year later by establishment of   St. :Phillip's Episcopal Church. 

The first building was on Worth Street.  When the building became too small it was sold and the church met in various locations until purchasing property on Waverly Street.  During the ministry of Rev. William Spellman from 1856 through 1885 church membership reached 1,600.  



Perhaps the most significant event in the church's history occurred on December 30, 1908, when the church called New Haven, Conn., pastor Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., to be its new pastor. His son Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., had been born a month earlier on November, 29.



In 1937 Powell, Sr., retired and his son became the church's most famous pastor.  Under Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., between 8,000 and 10,000 people were affiliated with the church.



The establishment of black churches played an important role in black social history.  Black churches provided an opportunity for development of social leaders in the black community.  Whites were in the majority and were unlikely to elect minorities to political office.  Even post Civil War southern states allowed black churches to have their own leaders.  



It is no accident that the early leaders of the civil rights movement were preachers.  Contrary to a popular myth, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wasn't the first preacher to demonstrate for equal treatment.  The movement to obtain equal opportunities and eliminate segregation  began under a preacher at Abyssinian Baptist.  King merely expanded the fight to the south where resistance was greater and the danger was greater.    



Rev. Powell, Jr.'s, duties as assistant pastor of the then largest Protestant Church in the country during the Depression included distributing food and clothing to those in need.  He recognized that people really needed jobs that were in even shorter supply for blacks than for whites.



He established the Coordinating Committee for Employment which used mass protests such as his "Don't Buy Where You Can't Work" campaign to persuade various  businesses,including Harlem Hospital, to hire  more blacks.   In 1941 he used a bus boycott to force the hiring of 200 more blacks by the transit authority.   



These efforts reflected the spirit of those who established Abyssinian Baptist Church in 1808.  They rebelled against being required to "sit in the back of the church" and left to start their own church.  Powell rebelled against black job hunters having to stand at the "back of the employment line" and pressured employers into giving black job hunters more opportunities.  



In 1941, Powell adopted a new tactic, changing government from within.  He successfully ran for the New York City City Council.  Three years later he took advantage of redistricting to win election to Congress where, as I noted in a previous post, he worked to desegregate the military and the District of Columbia.  He also was able to play a direct role in anti-discrimination legislation.  



Dr. King had greater visibility because his efforts involved public demonstrations, but Powell was at least as important because he had direct access to presidents and members of Congress.  Presidents desired Powell's endorsement at election time.    



During this period Powell continued to serve as pastor of Abyssinian Baptist.  He didn't retire until a year before his death  in 1972. 



Abyssinian Baptist continues the effort to help those in need.  It provides housing for the homeless and senior citizens. The non-profit Abyssinian  Development Corporation oversees these projects and is seeking to revitalize the economy of Harlem.



It's current pastor, Reverend Calvin Otis Butts III, is following in the tradition of Rev. Powell by holding two jobs.  Butts also serves as president of State University of New York College at Old Westbury.  Butts wasn't raised in Abyssinian Baptist, but he began working there as a graduate student.  He is actively seeking to eliminate the last remnants of racism as well as seeking to eliminate negative lyrics and images in the recording industry.    

November 29 will be the 100th anniversary of the birth of the black preacher known as "Mr. Civil Rights".  No, I'm not talking about Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., although this man was named after his preacher father. 

Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr, was conducting civil rights demonstrations when Dr. King was still a child in the 30's.   As assistant pastor at his father's Abyssinian Baptist Church he was in charge of providing food and clothing to those who couldn't afford them, on one  occasion he even gave  the shoes he was wearing  to a man who couldn't find his size in the used clothing.  

When  he succeeded his father  in 1935 it was the largest Protestant  congregation in  America.  The  church itself  began as a protest against  the segregated seating at New York City's  First Baptist Church in 1808. A century later the church would call  Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr.,  to be its pastor.

Rev.  Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., recognized that providing food and clothing wasn't the best way to help people, so he began an effort to get jobs for blacks.  His  Coordinating Committee for Employment used mass protests such as his "Don't Buy Where You Can't Work" campaign to persuade various  businesses, including Harlem Hospital, to hire  more blacks.   In 1941 he used a bus boycott to force the hiring of 200 more blacks by the transit authority.    In 1941 he integrated the New York City City Council when he was elected as its first black member. 

In 1944, he became the first northern black from a state other than Illinois to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.  Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., informed Congress:  "I'm the first bad Negro they've had in Congress." The other black Representative,  William Dawson of Chicago, had avoided challenging the status quo.

Powell promptly integrated the House dining room and barber shop.  He persuaded other members of Congress to stop using the n- word on the floor of Congress.  He pushed for an end to segregation in the military and the District of Columbia and invented the "Powell Amendment" which, if successfully attached to legislation, prohibited racial discrimination in the use of federal funds.  Many years later  a similar provision later was adopted to require equal treatment for women.

Later he played a major role in getting President John Kennedy's New Frontier and President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society legislation passed.

Unfortunately, late in his career he succumbed to the temptations to misuse power and was eventually expelled from Congress for corrupt activities.  Charles Rangel subsequently replaced him.     Powell died on  April 4, 1972. 

The  focus on Dr. Martin Luther King's contributions has obscured the fact that King didn't start the fight to end segregation, he merely carried that fight to the south where the resistance was greatest.  Rep. Adam Clayton Powell  didn't start the fight either, but he  escalated it.   As a preacher he demonstrated that public protests and boycotts could change the situation.   As a member of Congress he  began the difficult process of changing  government racial policies.  Perhaps the military would have been integrated without his efforts, but his support certainly helped.    He forced Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower to act against  racial discrimination.  Powell, a Democrat,  later rewarded Eisenhower by  endorsing  him in the  1956 presidential election.

The Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education didn't happen in a vacuum.  Charles Sumner had argued before the Massachusetts high court that "separate but equal" was impossible a century earlier in the Roberts case which had served as a precedent for the ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson.  Society had changed, at least outside the south. 

Integration was the coming thing.  The nation's principle government organization, the military, had been integrated as had its most popular sport, baseball.  The justices might have been aware of Dwight Eisenhower's role in eliminating segregated theaters and other facilities on military bases and eliminating segregated facilities in the District of Columbia even though Eisenhower had acted quietly.