Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church

Emanuel Church's congregation grew out of the Methodist society when Robert Williams erected a meetinghouse on South Street in 1772, and Black worshippers established their own society as the African Methodist Society. Until Nat Turner's insurrection in 1831, the congregation occupied a building on Washington Street, after which it was forced to worship with white Methodists until a new church was built in 1856. That building was destroyed by fire, and the congregation, made up largely of slaves and freed Blacks, built the present church building and dedicated it in November 1857. In 1871, the 99-year-old congregation joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church and took the name Emanuel, meaning "God with us."

Portsmouth, Virginia · United States