Found 63 collections related to African Americans -- Religion

The collection consists of personal papers, material related to the Community Church of Harlem, and to the Jamaica Progressive League. Personal papers including certificates, sheet music with lyrics and melodies written by Brown, and an obituary and biography, 1914-1956; incoming letters showing Brown's numerous appeals for funds for his church, and other matters relating to his ministry, 1930s-1960s; Harlem Unitarian Church records consisting of by-laws, correspondence, marriage records, order of service records, prayer books, 1934-1955; and sermons, 1932-1955. Also, material related to the Jamaica Progressive League, a group that worked for the independence of Jamaica. less

The records of the First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia are divided into nine series: Church Minutes; Financial Records; Membership Records; Deeds, Leases and Legal Papers; Minutes of Boards and Associations; Sunday School Records; Baptist Young Peoples Records; Workers Council Records; and Church Histories, Printed Matter and Miscellaneous. less

The Milton A. Galamision Papers are primarily a collection of the Reverend's sermons. A few personal items, other writings, and clippings complete the collection. The papers have been divided into the following five series: personal papers, writings, broadcasts, church activities, and civil rights activities. The writings series (1953-1987) contains over one thousand sermons which Galamison preached at Witherspoon Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey, his first church (1947-1948) and Siloam Presbyterian Church. Additionally, there is a copy of Galamison's Master's thesis, "Salvation Themes in the Great Religions," an unpublished autobiographical manuscript, "A Grand and Awful Time." The latter is an account of attempts by African Americans to change the New York City school system, particularly focusing on Galamison's struggles during thirteen years of fighting for integration. Finally, the writings series contains speeches Galamison made, as well as a research file which includes speeches and other printed material he used in writing his articles and speeches. less

The Wentworth A. Matthew collection relates primarily to the financial and real estate concerns of Rabbi Matthew and the Commandment Keepers. Included are deeds, contracts, architectural drawings, and invoices for property purchased in Wyandanch and Babylon, Long Island, where Matthew intended to establish a resident community. Also included are insurance policies for property leased by the congregation in Brooklyn and Manhattan. There are also personal insurance policies for Rabbi Matthew as well as correspondence and wills deeding property to Rabbi Matthew and the synagogue. Of interest are a 1931 letter from Rabbi Arnold J. Ford, musical director of Marcus Garvey's UNIA, to Matthew discussing the latter's certificate of ordination and urging him to encourage Black Jews to settle in Ethiopia. Matthew's death certificate from Harlem Hospital and letters to his daughter are included in the collection. less

Congregation Mount Horeb, a Black Hebrew congregation, was founded by Rabbi Albert Moses in 1945. In 1954, the congregation was reorganized by Rabbi Joseph Thomas. The Congregation Mount Horeb records consist primarily of membership meeting minutes (1976-1988), financial reports, legal documents, and correspondence pertaining to the sale of property owned by the congregation in Manhattan and Laurelton, Queens. The records reflect an internal dispute among members of the congregation regarding the ownership and sale of buildings. The collection includes membership lists and a ledger (1976-1987), as well as its constitution and by-laws. less

The St. Mark's United Methodist Church Collection consist principally of printed matter consisting of anniversary journals and programs. The collection focuses on the years when Reverend John Hicks was pastor, and contains church programs, and programs from services and special events, such as the Annual Debutante Cotillion, and the Business and Professional Club, and church anniversaries. less

The collection documents some aspects of Samuel J. Martin's career as an Episcopalian minister and contains sermons, correspondence, writings,and printed material. Included is Martin's dissertation written for the Divinity School of the University of Chicago entitled "Significant Leaders in the Modern Religion and Health Movement, 1942". Correspondence and other material deals with the mental health movement and its relationship to religion. There are also manuscripts for his sermons and other religious writings. Printed material includes a St. Edmund's Church (Chicago) newsletter written prior to Martin's ordination as minister, 1926; a program celebrating the tenth anniversary of this church, 1938; the 1949 issue of "Advance," the Diocese of Chicago publication featuring St. Edmund's Church; a program dedicating the Dean Samuel J. Martin Annex of the Parochial School of St. Edmund's Episcopal Church, 1966; other publications about the Episcopal Church; and newsclippings regarding St. Edmund's Episcopal Church and biographical information about Martin. less

This collections mainly consists of printed matter on various institutions, including Christian, Muslim, and Jewish organizations, and individuals related to these insitutions. Printed matter contains flyers, pamphlets, newsletters, and articles. Additionally, there are some sermons, letters, conference programs, and budget proposals included in various folders. less

This collection includes completed and incompleted survey responses from various religious institutions across the United States. It also includes lists of participating institutions and photocopied articles on the Works Progress AdministrationPA's historical records surveys. less

The records of the Second African Baptist Church, Savannah, Georgia are divided into seven series: Church Minutes; Legal Documents; Church Rolls, Minute Books and Annual Reports; Financial Records; Sunday School Records, Church Organizations' Minutes; and Church History, Printed Matter, Miscellaneous. less

The records of the Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church in Baltimore, Maryland consist of three series: Financial Records, Minute Books and Reports, and Cemetery Records. The Financial Records series, 1913-1944, contains trustee reports with entries pertaining to the cemetery. Collection plate records and records of rallies for church projects are also included. The Minute Books and Reports series, 1911-1962, contains the minutes of the official boards and various church groups as well as affiliated organizations in which the church has had membership. The latter includes the Baltimore Preachers Meetings and the Women's Society of Christian Service, North Baltimore District. The Cemetery Records series, 1873-1993, is comprised of ledgers in which are entered cemetery lot owners, burial and death records. In many ledgers information on place of origin, date of birth, cause of death and physician's name has been indicated. Information on the lots include location and number of burials per site. A schematic drawing of the cemetery is also included. less

In 1992 and 1993 City Lore coordinated an oral history project focusing on the Northern migration experience and the maintenance of southern folkways within New York City's African-American church community. Fifty men and women who migrated from the South to New York during the post World War II years were interviewed. Topics covered in the interviews include how and why individuals left the South (generally for economic reasons, not blatant racism and violence); their experiences adjusting to life in New York; their retention of Southern cultural practices (food, especially soul food, gospel music, crafts including quilting, worship practices and church activities); the individuals' ongoing connections to the South through regular family visits, homecoming, etc.; and their thoughts on moving back to the South (or for those few who had already moved from New York, they compared their lives in both areas). The informants recount their positive relations with other black families and with white neighbors in the South and school experiences with strict yet caring black teachers. Neighborhood life in Harlem, central Brooklyn and parts of Queens during the 1940's through the early 1960's were recounted, as well as discussions covering life up to the early 1990's during the time of the interviews is included. The New York City interviews were conducted by City Lore Project Director Ray Allen and the Virginia interviews were conducted by Dr. Marilyn White. less

The Alexander and Shirlene Stewart Pentecostal collection provides information on four African-American Pentecostal denominations: Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith, founded by Robert C. Lawson in 1919 in Harlem; Bible Way Church World Wide, founded by Smallwood Williams in 1927 as a Washington, D.C. congregation of Lawson's Church and incorporated as a denomination in 1957; Church of The Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith, founded by Sherrod C. Johnson in 1933 after a split with Lawson; and United Pentecostal Council of the Assemblies of God, founded in 1919 to assist missions. The collection contains miscellaneous programs, news clippings, correpondence, sermons, articles, journals, and other printed material, as well as a scholarly paper on missions by Alexander Stewart and response by Kenneth Gill. less

Clergyman, teacher, missionary. Letters addressesd to Crummell discussing personal and religious interests and Crummell's missionary work as an Episcopalian in Liberia in the 1850s through 1860s. Bulk of the collection consists of numerous sermons preached in Washington, D.C. and other American cities, England, and Liberia. Sermons, in addition to discussing religious matters, concern his work in Liberia, the role of the family, and other subjects. less

The Leonidas H. Berry papers primarily document Berry's medical career. There is correspondence (1980-1988), speeches and honors (1969-1980s), and some material on the National Medical Association. There are scattered files dealing with his work with the A.M.E. Church health program, Cook County Hospital, the Narcotic Clinic he helped establish, and others. Writings include some draft sketches and research files for his book, I Wouldn't Take Nothin' for My Journey, and correspondence dealing with the promotion and reaction to it. Included with the writings is his textbook Gastrointestinal Pan-endoscopy and the manuscript of Clinical significance of Gastrointestinal endoscopy, an update for a series of pamphlets of which he was an editor. Berry's curriculum vitae and World War II Army papers provide some biographical information. less

Beth Elohim Hebrew Congregation is a Black Jewish congregation in New York City. It was founded in 1983 by Chief Rabbi Levi Ben Levy, Rabbi Sholomo Ben Levy, and the Levy family. Religious instruction is provided by a Sabbath School for Children and by Cushi Talmud Torah Hebrew School for Adults and Children. The synagogue is located in St. Albans, Queens in New York City. The Beth Elohim Hebrew Congregation records include: the certificate of incorporation; minutes of executive board meetings (1987-1993); correspondence with members, other congregations, and U.S. officials regarding involvement in the Gulf War of 1990-1991; and a file on the synagogue's Talmud Torah Hebrew School. There are files pertaining to the Ethiopian Hebrew organization known as the International Israelite Board of Rabbis, and copies of their newsletter, "Ha-Kol" (1989-1995), as well as the 1989 yearbook of the Israelite Rabbinical Academy, also based at the synagogue. News clippings about this congregation and other Ethiopian Hebrew congregations are included in the collection (1973-1993). less

In 1972 Rabbi and Rabbinit Yahonatan founded the Beth Ha-Tefilah Ethiopian (black) Hebrew Congregation in St. Albans, Queens, New York as a spiritual branch of the Headquarters Commandment Keepers Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Harlem. By the early 1980's the Beth Ha-Tefilah congregation had relocated to Mount Vernon, New York. Although the temple is still in existence as of 2005, there is no congregation. The Beth Ha-Tefilah Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation records include the constitution, by-laws, minutes of board meetings (1963-1988); and a scrapbook containing correspondence with other Hebrew congregations, newsletters, flyers, programs and copies of telegrams expressing sympathy upon the death of members' relatives. less

B'nai Adath Kol Beth Yisroel, a black Hebrew congregation, was incorporated in New York City in 1954 under the leadership of Rabbi Yirmeyahu Ben Daniel Yisrael (formerly Rabbi Julius Wilkins), and maintains its synagogue in Brooklyn, New York. The B'nai Adath Kol Beth Yisroel collection consists of incorporation papers and by-laws, organizational activities programs, a membership questionnaire, a biographical sketch of Rabbi Julius Wilkins and other printed material. less

The Black Economic Research Center Records document BERC's activities as well as the involvement of Robert Browne in numerous organizations. Although the primary function of BERC was to conduct economic research to aid black organizations and individuals, research data, notes and memoranda concerning studies BERC conducted were not included in the collection; therefore the records are stronger in its administrative functions than in its programmatic aspects. less

The records include files of the Board of Directors, 1980-84 (lists of board members, agendas, minutes, memoranda); administrative and programmatic files of former executive directors, Howard Dodson, Jualynne Dodson, and Yvonne Delk; correspondence, 1976-84; files for the Cuban Seminar on Black Theology, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Seminar, and other contacts with Cuban ecumenical organizations, 1984 and 1986; in addition to subject files and printed matter. less

The George Freeman Bragg Manuscripts consist primarily of biographical essays about three prominent nineteenth century African Americans in addition to two lists, the first providing names of famous African American women and the second, a list of people to be confirmed, presumably at St. James Episcopal Church. The biographical essays discuss such key figures as Daniel A. Payne, Blanche Kelso Bruce and John Mercer Langston. Other typescripts pertain to the history of African Americans in the Episcopal Church and the union of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Church. less

The Commandment Keepers Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation, one of the oldest and largest communities of Black Hebrews in the United States, was founded in Harlem in 1919, by Rabbi Wentworth Arthur Matthew (1892-1973). Though this congregation traces its origin to the activities of those who came to New York during the first waves of Black migration and immigration, it was in the post World War II years that the community took root. Rabbi Matthew created a number of auxiliary organizations, and today there are seven Black synagogues in the downstate New York area that trace their origins directly to Rabbi Matthew and his congregation. The synagogue is located in Harlem. The Commandment Keepers Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation records consist of several ledgers, including a photocopy of a record book listing members' names and addresses, births and deaths (1923-1959); and other membership ledgers providing individual financial records, worship, and Hebrew school attendance (1927-1959). The collection ledger lists amounts donated from 1974-1991. The collection also includes correspondence of Rabbi Matthew regarding dedication of the new synagogue in Harlem (1962) and speaking engagements in the Northeast (1968-1970). There is also a notebook listing members of various committees, along with notes about several services held at the synagogue (1948), a golden anniversary program (1966), and news clippings. less

The main body of the Isaac Reed Berry Papers consists of undated sermons, mostly handwritten. There is no indication of where the sermons were delivered, although they are titled. The sermons deal with topical and political as well as spiritual concerns. Additionally, there are printed journals from the Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church for the years 1952, 1955 and 1975. less

The J. Alfred Smith, Sr. Papers primarily document Smith's roles as author, pastor of the Allen Baptist Temple Church (ATBC) and his activities with the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc (PNBC) as well as other church organizations. Over half of the papers document Smith's career during the 1970s and '80s as pastor of ATBC and president of the PNBC. Smith's papers include very little documentation on his career and professional activities during the 1950s and '60s, his vice presidency and presidency of the Progressive State Baptist Convention of California and Nevada headquartered in Los Angeles, or his first and second vice presidencies of the PNBC. less