Bethel African Methodist Church in Lancaster: Prolegomenon to a Social History by Leroy Hopkins, Ph.D.

    In Lancaster City's southeastern quadrant, at the juncture of North and Strawberry Streets, stands a structure which has long been connected with Lancaster's Afro-American community: Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. The church's exterior offers no indication of the role this congregation played in its community or the general community. There are not historical markers or plaques to commemorate individuals or events associated with Bethel. Indeed, to the uninitiated, Bethel seems indistinguishable from the many churches that populate Lancaster City and County. The following essay is an attempt to correct this situation by enumerating readily available facts, analyzing recently discovered information, and indicating problem areas for future research. Currently it is not possible to assemble a comprehensive history of Bethel, hence, our limited goal of prolegomenon to a history.

    Lancaster County is an area rich in history and tradition. Local individuals, institutions, and events of not just regional but also national interest have been chronicled by a long series of local historians beginning well before the Civil War and continuing into the recent past. As has been demonstrated elsewhere, the local Afro-American community has generally been either ignored or briefly surveyed in these local histories--despite the fact that South Central Pennsylvania was an important and significant center of the free Afro-American community in the 19th Century.'

    Bethel A.M.E. Church is the largest church of its denomination in Lancaster County-- there being A.M.E. churches in Marietta and Columbia as well. The fact that Bethel's membership is almost six times greater than the combined membership of its sister institutions along the Susquehanna would be reason enough to scrutinize its historical development. A glimpse in the most comprehensive local history underscores the need to study Bethel.

    Ellis & Evans' History of Lancaster County (1883), although over 100 years old, has not yet been superseded by a subsequent local history. Unlike the other histories, a significant amount of space is devoted to the Black communities' indigenous to the City, boroughs, and townships of Lancaster County. For our purposes, the information provided by Ellis & Evans is quite useful, albeit sketchy. As is typical of the peculiar mental set that has historically governed race relations in Lancaster County, only unusual facts about individuals and brief church histories are presented. The paragraph on Bethel is both informaative and illustrative of the deficiencies that impair local historical treatment of the Black community:
 
African Methodist Episcopal Church.-- On June 10, 1817, about fifty persons of color assembled at the house of James Clendening, and expressed a desire that the Rev. Daniel Coker and the other circuit preachers of the Methodist denomination should visit the town and preach to them once every two weeks. These people also desired to have a place of worship, and decided to take steps to secure one. With this end in view they chose some of the leading menof the town-- Walter Franklin, Robert Coleman, William Kirkpatrick, Charles Smith, William Jenkins, Adam Reigart, and George L. Mayer-- to act for them. This committee met on the 23rd of June, at Col. Slough's, approved of their plans, and cordially agreed to unite with them in accomplishing their object. They sought the aid of their fellow-citizens, and so effectively enlisted it that by the beginning of the year 1821 the African Bethel meeting-house was completed. It was consecrated February 11th, the Rev. Christian Endress preaching the sermon. This church, on the corner of Strawberry and North Streets, was rebuilt in 1879, at the cost of two thousand three hundred dollars, the frame structure having been destroyed by fire. The congregation, which is under the charge of Ref. William Norris, includes about sixty members in good standing.

    Bethel's history is not as uncomplicated and straightforward as this narrative would seem to indicate....



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