The following are short descriptions of the major institutions which have contributed to the shaping of African American history. These encyclopedia entries serve as a starting point for much more inclusive descriptions and discussions that appear in other sources. For additional information please consult the print or website sources cited in the entry.
The Second Baptist Church, Bismarck, North Dakota, organized in 1917 to serve the African American residents of the city, including some who had previously attended the predominantly white First Methodist Episcopal Church. The immediate impetus for organization of Second Baptist came from a series of … Read MoreSecond Baptist Church (1917-ca. 1930)
Campbell College, a now-defunct AME college in Mississippi, was founded in 1890 by the African Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of one of its bishops, Jabez Pitt Campbell. The college was originally located about one mile from the center of Vicksburg, Mississippi in … Read MoreCampbell College (1890-1964)
Abiel Smith School Image Ownership: Public domain The Abiel Smith School, originally founded in 1798 by African American parents in the Boston, Massachusetts community, was an institution for free African American students. It became known as the Abiel Smith School in 1815 after Abiel Smith, a wealthy white … Read MoreAbiel Smith School (1798-1855)
Mary Holmes College, ca. 1910 Image Ownership: Public domain Mary Holmes College of West Point, Mississippi, initially named Mary Holmes Seminary, was founded in 1892 by the Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church with the purpose of educating black girls from primary grades to high school. The school was … Read MoreMary Holmes College (1892-2005)
Freedom Bank Interior With Portland Mayor Terry Schrunk and Others, 1970 Image Courtesy of City of Portland (OR) Archives In 1968, a group of businessmen in Portland, Oregon saw the recently founded Bank of Finance in Los Angeles, California as a model for their creating the first black-owned commercial bank in the Pacific … Read MoreFreedom Bank of Finance (1969-2000)
When African American citizens founded the St. James African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Helena, Montana, in 1888, their population topped 250 people in a city of roughly 12,000 souls. Located in Helena’s eastside residential district on 114 N. Hoback, the church building rested on … Read MoreSaint James African Methodist Episcopal Church, Helena, Montana (1888- )
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is an historically African American Protestant denomination based in New York City, New York. Also known as the Freedom Church, the AMEZ was officially recognized in 1821, but the foundations for Zion’s founding began in the late 1700s. In 1796, due to … Read MoreAfrican Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) Church (1821- )
Map of New Orleans at the Time of the Founding of the Institute Catholique Image Ownership: Public domain The Institute Catholique, or the Catholic School for Indigent Orphans, was opened in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1848, and aimed to offer a free educationto all African American orphans in the city … Read MoreThe Catholique Institute (1848-1915)
The Freedmen’s Hospital was founded in 1862 in Washington, D.C. It was the first hospital of its kind to aid in the medical treatment of former slaves. Later it became the major hospital for the African American community in Washington, D.C. The hospital was founded on … Read MoreFreedmen’s Hospital/Howard University Hospital (1862– )
The Crusader was a black communist magazine established by journalist Cyril Briggs initially with the financial support of West Indian merchant Anthony Crawford in September 1918. Briggs established The Crusader in response to and in support of President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points that called for the “impartial adjustment of all colonial claims.” Briggs, formerly of the Amsterdam … Read MoreThe Crusader (1918-1922)