Founded in 1836, Asbury United Methodist Church became by the Civil War the preeminent Black church in Washington, with 600 members making it the largest of the city's 11 African American congregations. Its history is woven with stories of slavery and freedom, struggle and achievement, and today it includes descendants of District slaves who attempted a dramatic escape to freedom aboard the ship Pearl in 1848. Churches were centers of life for African Americans in the nation's capital, where they had made up more than one-quarter of the population since 1800 and where a majority had gained their freedom by 1830. Despite Black Codes that sharply restricted their movements and activities, free African Americans practiced trades, ran businesses, established schools, and by 1860 owned property in every quadrant of the city. Asbury United Methodist is the oldest Black congregation in the District of Columbia on its original site, and its current sanctuary dates from 1915. Since its founding, its members have played leading roles in the life of the city, and its spiritual, educational, and humanitarian work has symbolized the efforts of Black congregations throughout Washington, D.C., to attain equality for the city's many African American communities.
