African M. E. Church and Parsonage, Portsmouth
Dublin Core
Title
African M. E. Church and Parsonage, Portsmouth
Subject
African Americans, religion
Description
African American Methodists in Portsmouth constructed their own church in 1857. The building was used by escaping slaves as part of the Underground Railroad. Required by Virginia law to have a white minister, the congregation called its first African American pastor, Rev. James A. Handy, in 1864. In 1871 the congregation affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church and became known as the Emanuel A.M.E. Church.
Creator
A. M. Turner
Source
Edward Pollock, comp., Sketch Book of Portsmouth, Va., Its People and its Trade (Portsmouth, 1886), 157.
Publisher
Portsmouth, Va.: Edward Pollock
Contributor
Library of Virginia
Rights
CC BY-SA
Format
JPG
Type
Engraving
Identifier
15_1075_014
Coverage
Portsmouth, Virginia
Citation
A. M. Turner, “African M. E. Church and Parsonage, Portsmouth,” Remaking Virginia: Transformation Through Emancipation, accessed October 31, 2025, https://virginiamemory.com/online-exhibitions/items/show/562.