Harrisburg's African Methodist Episcopal Churches

During the nineteenth century, the African American churches of Harrisburg were much more than houses of worship; they were agents of enfranchisement and liberation.

It was January 1, 1863. To many residents of Harrisburg, it was likely just a typical New Year's Day, but to the city's African American community, it held far greater significance as it marked the day the newly passed Emancipation Proclamation took effect. That evening, three chosen men met at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church on Short Street to write a response to this momentous occasion. Not only did they encapsulate the joy and approval that African Americans felt, but also the anger and frustration that stemmed from two centuries of racial discrimination and dehumanization, warranting such a proclamation in the first place. By the end of that night’s worship service, the response was approved via a vote, simultaneously celebrating a win for African Americans worldwide while also acknowledging that work was far from over — work that Black churches in Harrisburg had already been doing for decades and would continue in the years ahead.

The resolution composed by schoolteacher John Wolf, prominent community member Samuel Bennett, and Reverend David Stevens of the Wesley Union AME Zion Church may have captured what Harrisburg’s African American community felt about slavery, but their actions spoke louder. Despite its small stature, under the leadership of Reverend Mifflin Gibbs, the Bethel AME Church “included many of those who did man's work by day and the Lord's work by night, maintaining an active presence in that shadowy operation known as the Underground Railroad.” Understanding the difficulties that resulted from escaping slavery, the church provided housing for freedom seekers and found them employment in the local coal, iron, and steel industries, helping them settle into their new lives in the North, whether Harrisburg was their final home or merely a stop on the way. Later, following the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, Bethel AME took things a step further by registering new voters and offering classes in civic education, ushering in a new era of voting rights for the city. Although the Short Street church played a crucial role in the antislavery movement and in advancing the rights of African Americans, it was not alone.

At the corner of Third and Mulberry Streets sat the small log building that housed the Wesley Union Church. Its neighborhood of “Judy’s Town” was a key spot for African American social and spiritual life, so it is unsurprising that it became the first of Harrisburg’s regular Underground Railroad stops, becoming the epicenter of the movement in the city by 1829. As at Bethel AME, many freedom seekers found refuge at Wesley Union, a direct result of the sermons that congregants heard during worship services, filling them with a sense of love and duty that inspired them to put everything on the line to help total strangers. One early Wesley Union congregant, William “Pap” Jones, was known for being one of the most effective Underground Railroad conductors in the area, using his extensive knowledge of northern routes to create guides for freedom seekers. Another congregant, Harriet McClintock Marshall, assisted freedom seekers by providing them with shelter, food, and clothing before ushering them to their next stops on their journeys to freedom; her husband’s status as a formerly enslaved man likely strengthened her resolve to help others on their journeys to freedom.

In fact, Harrisburg’s African American community was participating in Underground Railroad activities long before the Underground Railroad was established. For instance, Reverend David Stevens of Wesley Union Church encouraged his congregation to “strive for self-reliance and community,” a mission they fulfilled by assisting the needy in every way possible. The “needy,” of course, included enslaved people who had escaped from their bonds and were settling in the North. These actions led to the formation of a sort of network that connected different members of the Harrisburg African American community throughout the 1820s and 1830s under a common goal. Stevens and fellow African American minister Jacob D. Richardson publicly denounced slavery and opened the church to anti-slavery meetings and events, even attempting to start their own anti-slavery newspaper — Zion’s Wesleyan Connection — in 1841. The church continued to grow until their small log building in Judy’s Town was no longer big enough, leading founding pastor Stevens to seek out a new location at the corner of Tanner’s Alley and State Street, east of the Capitol building, where the congregation moved in its entirety in 1839. The construction of new buildings on the same site in 1862 and then again in 1894 demonstrates Wesley Union's success throughout the nineteenth century as it continued to flourish in spite of adversity.

Churches such as Bethel AME and Wesley Union played a pivotal role in organizing Harrisburg’s Underground Railroad. From holding recruitment meetings for Black Civil War regiments to hosting national-scale anti-slavery speakers, houses of worship stood at the forefront of the city’s efforts to resist slavery and to support freedom seekers. Indifferent or discriminatory residents of Harrisburg may have viewed these African American men and women as "radicals" or lawbreakers, but in reality, they were fighting for justice and human dignity as children of God.

A full list of the resources used in this story can be found here.

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