African Methodist Episcopal Church Proceedings, 1935-1950 (volume 1 of 2)

Background:

The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church is a Christian denomination that began in 1787 when a lot of black worshippers left St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church (Philadelphia) after another black member by the name of Absalom Jones was removed from the church for praying. As an interracial church located in a supposedly racially progressive city, there was much more that needed to be done before black people would be able to worship freely. Led by a local black preacher in the M.E. Church, Richard Allen, the Free African Society was formed. Once the Bethel AME was established in 1793, several years post-formation the AME Church was officially organized in Philadelphia. Allen was elected as their bishop and the M.E. Church doctrine was adopted.

There was a restriction placed on the spread of AME churches due to the progression of the antislavery movement. So it was not until [post] Civil War and emancipation did the AME Church advance into North Carolina and other southern states. Through its work with recently liberated blacks after the war, the denomination grew considerably. The North Carolina Annual Conference of the AME Church, organized in Wilmington in 1868, enlarged to such an extent that the Western North Carolina Conference branch was added in 1900. In 1886 the AME Church established Kittrell College in Vance County; the institution provided blacks a higher education until 1975.

North Carolina, located in the church's Second Episcopal District, hosts two annual conferences: the North Carolina Conference and the Western North Carolina Conference. In the early 2000s, there were more than 150 active AME churches in the state.

Content and Analysis:

This volume contains the proceedings of the annual meetings of the North Carolina Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church for the years 1935, 1937, 1940, 1943-1946, and 1950.

 The meetings were held in Wilmington, Fayetteville, Kinston, and Rich Square, N.C. The relevance of these locations is that African Americans made up the majority of these cities and towns. They served as markers throughout North Carolina for blacks to gravitate towards when seeking solace. However, these places still did not mask their blackness and they were just as subjective to any racial violence than any other place. 

From the two pages selected from the recorded minutes, there is a clear message that there is a total disregard of the law from whites as there were still lynchings occurring even after the anti-lynching bill was introduced by the Senate. The entry, signed by W.C. Cleveland, explicitly states that they were speaking on "the darkest blot upon the American people". In this instance, they are referring to the act of lynching. Many of these acts based on these records had occurred on simple levels that never should have reached the point to end someone's life. There was one instance in the report in which one individual was lynched for allegedly slapping a white woman. However, this raises the question of whether or not this account is actually true. On several occasions, the cause of many instances that resulted in the deaths of black men was the notion of 'white innocence'. This concept reinforces the rhetoric that anything associated with whiteness was deemed as 'good' and 'just'. Naturally, this means anything not white is deemed 'bad' and 'unjust.' The same concept can be used to justify the act of lynching. Another time a lynching occurred was when a man was lynched for being publicly intoxicated. While this minor offense could have been easier to address with a night in jail, in the end, it only cost a man his life. 

For those involved in the AME church and the North Carolina Conference, the action of lynching was never understood to be morally just. For members, they saw it as a means in which Whites acted on the false notion that they were providing the "people's treatment to mete [justice] out to the Negro" (p. 26). However, to question this method members raised the question of "why take one criminal and make many?" (p. 26) by replacing the initial crime of African Americans (being black in America) and making hundreds, even thousands by committing the atrocious act of lynching. 

One thing that was most intriguing was how these conversations were almost viewed as an appeal to whites; how it was possible for "no one [to] take[s] part in a lynching actively or passively without being affected" (p.27). This narrative goes to include any person who may have witnessed a lynching, partake in any moblike actions to promote a lynching or even go as far as to not acknowledge the "bad philosophy, bad psychology, bad logic, and wicked morality" (p. 26) associated with lynching. 

Based on the quotes located throughout the exhibit, there is a clear confusion and disappointment in the state of the country as to why there is little to no regard to the treatment of black bodies throughout the nation. Even if the final legislation did not pass through Congress to make the act of lynching illegal in the eyes of the federal law, local and state laws were never going to support it. With many affluent whites being in the positions of power to enact these laws, they themselves would be subject to the same if not worse treatment than blacks. Even with that, many of these same individuals would engage in the same theatrics to maintain this social order.

The other reports, which can be found in the first volume of the proceedings, included various topics that seemed to influence or affect the African American community. The previous entry concerned the state of the country with a focus on the ruling associated with the NRA Act. This act, known as the National Recovery Administration, established under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 was deemed unconstitutional as it offered whites better opportunities at jobs and lower and separate pay scales for blacks. In the following entry, the report focuses solely on the state of the church and Sunday school notes.  This is important because it highlights that though they were a group of African Americans whose sole purpose was to focus on church proceedings, there was a minimal reference to any religious context. Considering the fact that these proceedings come from the perspective of a religious background, it is intriguing to note how many of the topics discussed are focused on the well-being and maintenance of being a human being-- a so-called ‘citizen’ of the United States. When it came to African Americans, the same inalienable rights that were promised to white Americans were never promised to them (and with current events, are still not being fulfilled). 

Accessibility:

Located on Pages 26 and 27, in the African Methodist Episcopal Church Proceedings #4825-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Bibliography

Criner, Allyson C. “African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.” Https://Www.ncpedia.org/Religion/African-Methodist-Episcopal-Church, 1 Jan. 2006.

The History of Anti-Lynching Legislation in Congress, The Congressional Digest, Public Conduct Legislation, March 1922, as photocopied and accessed from http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/;