St. Paul A.M.E. was founded in 1873 by Reverend Richard James, making 2024 the 151th anniversary of the congregation’s historic founding. After some times of struggle in the early 1900s, a lot where the present structure stands was purchased for $1,000. The new church was built under the leadership of Rev. E.F. Williams – he is remembered as the architect and builder of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church. At the groundbreaking a prayer was uttered: “Upon this spot God’s Church is built and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Those words became prophetic throughout the course of the early struggles for racial equality in the 20th century, but none more so than in the summer of 1964. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Hosea Williams, and Rev. Andrew Young came to St. Paul A.M.E. to meet, to pray, and to set forth on their historic march in St. Augustine for Civil Rights – the end result being the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Please Contact Church for 2024 History Festival Information
