The Reverend Andrew J, Chambers was a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church who sought to advance the cause of African Americans, including those within his denomination and in the United States generally. According to Alexander W. Wayman, an early church historian of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Chambers was a member of the New England Conference, but was appointed by the Arkansas Conference as its agent in seeking to erect a monument to Richard Allen, the founder and first bishop of the A. M. E. Church. Wayman indicates that Chambers "succeeded in rising the money and the monument were erected on the Centennial grounds." (Wayman, Cyclopedia of African Methodism. [Baltimore: Methodist Episcopal Book Depository, 1882], p. 34). The Allen monument appears to have been located in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia in 1876, which would make the Centennial a celebration of American independence rather than an A. M. E. Church celebration. An 1876 letter indicates that in that year Chambers was acting as the "Corresponding Secretary" for an "Executive Committee" presumably for the Allen monument.
The Chambers papers show that in succeeding years Chambers was involved in trying to influence the Congress to form a Commission of "three colored men.... to enquire [sic] into the intellectual status of the colored people of the south, and what, if anything, the federal government can do for their advancement." It is not clear if Chambers was successful in this effort. Nor is it clear whether his efforts to influence the opinions of presidents, senators, and congressmen on matters of similar concern succeeded. Chambers, however, was awarded the A. M. E. Church's Medal of the Henry McNeil Turner Crusaders of the 20th Century in 1899.
Little of Chambers' activities on behalf of his own congregation or congregations are known. He appears to have had his own church in New Haven, Connecticut, for some time, and he may have led other congregations in North Carolina and Kentucky. The amount of time he seems to have spent travelling on behalf of the projects assigned to him by the A. M. E. Church provides a hint that he may not have had his own permanent pastorate after leaving New Haven, a surmise supported by the fact that Chambers1 sought a scholarship to pursue further education as late as 1890. Chambers received correspondence in several cities where he may have had a residence, including New Haven, Salem, New Jersey (1881), Alleghany, Pennsylvania (1884), Wilmington, North Carolina (1886), New Berne, North Carolina (1888), and Danville, Kentucky (1898-1899).
Reverend Chambers' private life is similarly opaque, although a letter to "My Darling Angel" in New Haven seems to have been received by the same person who sent Chambers a letter signed "L". "L" was likely Lettie Chambers, the recipient of an 1890 telegram also included in the papers, who was probably Chambers' wife.
Notes on Andrew J. Chambers
Ca. 1882: "Chambers, Andrew J., at present a member of the New England Conference, was appointed by the Arkansas Conference agent for the Allen Monument. He succeeded in raising the money and the monument was erected on the Centennial grounds".
— Alexander W. Wayman, Cyclopedia of African Methodism, (Baltimore: Methodist Episcopal Book Depository, 1882). Rare Books 287-W.