Experience Black History: Community Celebration and Remembrance Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Indianapolis
414 W Vermont St, Indianapolis, IN 46202 July 24, 2016 from noon to 3pm

At 1pm, Joyce Moore from the Urban Patch will speak on the importance of communities using their histories to enrich their futures. For more information, please contact Kisha Tandy, KTandy@Indianamuseum.org and Andrea Copeland, ajapzon@iupui.edu

Transition and change are a part of any vital society but so is honoring and remembering those that have made those changes possible. Visit the sanctuary, see and hear the A. B. Felgemaker Co., Opus 878, 1905, one of a kind organ, and take photos, share stories, and participate in this historical moment.

The event is a collaboration between the Bethel AME Congregation and the IUPUI’s JustIndy: Tracing Race and Place Project. On July 24, the greater Indianapolis community is invited to join in the celebration of the physical place that is currently home to the oldest African American congregation in the city. The congregation is relocating and starting a new chapter in its long life.

Bethel, the oldest African American church in the city of Indianapolis,founded in 1836, was once a vital part of a thriving African American community located in the heart of the erstwhile Indiana Avenue Jazz District. Over its 180 years of existence, the Bethel AME Church has played a vital role in the Underground Railroad, the founding of the NAACP in Indiana, the founding of the first formal School for Black children in Indianapolis, and the development of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States.

The church building and the property are in the process of the being sold and will soon become a hotel. When this occurs the building will be altered greatly and its heritage no longer discernible. We invite you to visit the church, experience the history, bear witness to what once was and will never be again.