Abyssinian Baptist Church Oral History Project, 1992.

  1. Resources
  2. View Resource

ArchivalResource

Abyssinian Baptist Church Oral History Project, 1992.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/715351650

The Abyssinian Baptist Church Oral History Project consists of transcripts of interviews with ten African-American women -- all Abyssinian members -- about their recollections of Abyssinian Baptist Church as well as their Southern roots, their spiritual experiences and their political and Christian education. All of the women interviewed were more than seventy years old, and one was over ninety, at the time the interviews were conducted in 1992. The interviewees are: Helen Brown, Robbie Clarke, Susan Craig, Gwendolyn Jones, Esther McCall, Estelle Noble, Fannie Pennington, Olivia Pearl Stokes, Amy Terry, Grace Jones and Laura B. Thomas. Their remembrances date to the late 1920's, but the primary time period under discussion is from 1940 to1970. Located in Harlem, Abyssinian was the first black Baptist church established in New York State (1808) and the fifth in the United States. The interviewer was Martia G. Goodson, an assistant professor at Baruch College at the time of the project. The topics discussed during the interviews include church life during the 1930's, Adam Clayton Powell Jr.'s social justice ministry and his City Council election campaign in the1940's which led to his being the first African American elected to that body, as well as his election to the U.S. Congress in 1942, and the election of Communist Party member Benjamin Davis to Powell's seat in the City Council. Additional subjects include World War II, Tammany Hall in the 1950's, Sunday School and youth activities, Harlem and national Christian youth conferences, religious education, church club activities (teas, fashion shows, lectures), and campaigns against Jim Crow hiring, particularly in Harlem's 125th Street businesses. The Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. figures prominently in the interviews, as well as the organizations he was affiliated with, including the Greater New York City Coordinating Committee for the Employment of Negroes, of which he was chairman, and the Alfred G. Isaac Club of Democrats in Harlem, which Powell Jr. founded. Many of the women spoke about their experiences when they became members of one of the most popular churches in Harlem, as well as their memories of the Golden Gate, a meeting hall where Powell held mass meetings. The interviewees also discussed their work lives, Powell's newspaper "The People's Voice," his attendance at the Bandung Conference in Indonesia, and his exclusion in 1967 from the House of Representatives. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr.'s campaign to move the church to Harlem in the 1920s and his vision of a community church are described. Other figures mentioned are Odell Clark, Powell Jr.'s Congressional chief investigator, the Rev. David Licorish, long-time Abyssinian assistant pastor, Hattie Freeman Dodson, secretary to both Powells, Hazel Scott, jazz musician and Powell Jr.'s second wife, Wyatt T. Walker, another Abyssinian assistant minister, photographer Austin Hansen, and Casper Holstein, a Harlem numbers mobster during Prohibition who was also a prominent philanthropist. Also discussed is the Vermont Project, a program of interracial cooperation between Abyssinian Baptist Church and churches in Vermont whereby Harlem children stayed with Vermont families for part of the summer, ca. 1944-1960.

.4 lin. ft. (1 archival box)

New York Public Library System, NYPL

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 8084562

New York Public Library System, NYPL

Related Entities

There are 19 Entities related to this resource.

Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr., 1908-1972

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b960dp (person)

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (November 29, 1908 – April 4, 1972) was a Baptist pastor and an American politician, who represented the Harlem neighborhood of New York City in the United States House of Representatives from 1945 until 1971. He was the first African-American to be elected from New York to Congress. Re-elected for nearly three decades, Powell became a powerful national politician of the Democratic Party, and served as a national spokesman on civil rights and social issues. He also urg...

Clark, Robbie

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67w7trd (person)

Jones, Gwendolyn

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63r28cb (person)

Walker, Wyatt Tee

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zs3pzd (person)

Minister, author, and civil rights activist. From the description of Wyatt Tee Walker papers : additions, 1969-2005 (bulk ca. 1970-2005) (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 229128156 Minister, author, and civil rights activist, Rev. Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker is best known for his work as Chief of Staff of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a position he held from 1960-1964, and as pastor of Canaan Baptist Church in New York City since 1967. ...

Hansen, Austin, 1910-1996

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60k33nk (person)

The Abyssinian Baptist Church Oral History Project was undertaken in 1991 as one of the activities of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture's Preservation of the Black Religious Heritage Project. The latter, which ran from 1989 to 1993, collected and preserved material related to the African-American religious experience. Dr. Martia Goodson, a professor at Baruch College, conceived of and executed the Abyssinian oral history project, which focused on church life from 1940 to 1970. S...

Adam Clayton Powell Community Center (New York, N.Y.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63j8n8r (corporateBody)

Brown, Helen Evans

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6v13mfb (person)

Powell, A. Clayton (Adam Clayton), 1865-1953

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62f944s (person)

Holstein, Casper, 1876-1944

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n603g9 (person)

Craig, Susan E

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66h60hv (person)

Clark, Odell, 1910-1980

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66q3d75 (person)

Terry, Amy W.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6np3m40 (person)

Licorish, David Nathaniel, 1904-1999

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6nw115q (person)

Pennington, Fannie.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ks87m1 (person)

McCall, Esther.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f77vh0 (person)

Stokes, Olivia Pearl, 1916-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60z8jws (person)

Educator, lecturer, author and administrator, Dr. Stokes is an ordained minister in the American Baptist Churches and is well known as a religious educator. From the description of Olivia Pearl Stokes papers : additions, 1972-1992. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122466732 Educator, minister. From the description of Reminiscences of Olivia Pearl Stokes : oral history, 1979. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122574364 ...

Thomas, Laura Anderson, 1978-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s487wx (person)

Abyssinian Baptist Church (New York, N.Y.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mq0bpr (corporateBody)

The Abyssinian Baptist Church Oral History Project was undertaken in 1991 as one of the activities of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture's Preservation of the Black Religious Heritage Project. The latter, which ran from 1989 to 1993, collected and preserved material related to the African-American religious experience. Dr. Martia Goodson, a professor at Baruch College, conceived of and executed the Abyssinian oral history project, which focused on church life from 1940 to 1970. S...

Noble, Estelle B.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g74wrq (person)