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Guide to the First African Methodist Episcopal Church (Oakland, Calif.) Collection
MS 173
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Table of contents
Title: First African Methodist Episcopal Church (Oakland, Calif.) collection
Dates: 1922-2015
Bulk Dates: bulk 1950s-1970s
Collection number: MS 173
Creator:
First African Methodist Episcopal Church (Oakland, Calif.)
Creator:
East Bay Negro Historical Society
Collection Size:
2 linear feet
(3 boxes + 1 oversized box)
Repository:
African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)
Oakland, CA 94612
Abstract: The First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Oakland began in 1858, and is the first and oldest African American church
in the East Bay. The First African Methodist Episcopal Church (Oakland, Calif.) Collection includes administrative records,
correspondence, church service bulletins, events programs, photographs, and collected newspaper clippings.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
No access restrictions. Collection is open to the public.
Materials are for use in-library only, non-circulating.
Permission to publish from the First African Methodist Episcopal Church (Oakland, Calif.) Collection must be obtained from
the African American Museum & Library at Oakland.
First African Methodist Episcopal Church (Oakland, Calif.) collection, MS 173, African American Museum & Library at Oakland,
Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.
Processed by Jennifer Pickens on December 31, 2014.
Accession 2014-028 was donated to the African American Museum & Library at Oakland by the First African Methodist Episcopal
Church of Oakland in September 2014. Accession 2014-027 was collected by the East Bay Negro Historical Society.
Biography / Administrative History
The First African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church of Oakland was the first African American church to be founded in the
East Bay, and the only one in Oakland for more than three decades. It was the first school for minorities in Oakland, since
only white children were allowed to attend public schools at this time. The A.M.E. Church also acted as the cultural center
of the African American community, hosting not only the first church and school, but social and political clubs, events, and
festivals. The First A.M.E. Church of Oakland began in 1858 by a small group of Oakland residents, and is the oldest African
American church in Oakland. The church founders purchased the Carpenter School House in 1863, which became the first church
building. At this time the church was called Shiloh A.M.E. Church, and it also acted as a school for minorities; the teacher
was one of the A.M.E. church founders, Elizabeth Flood. In 1884, Reverend James Grisby led the congregation to a larger church
building on 15th Street in Oakland, known as the Fifteenth Street Church. In 1949, Reverend H. Solomon Hill became pastor,
and in 1954, led the congregation to a new church building at 3701 Telegraph Avenue, where it was renamed the First African
Methodist Episcopal Church. Since then, the church has been renovated and improved numerous times, notably surviving the 1989
Loma Prieta earthquake.
Senior pastors of the First A.M.E. Church of Oakland:
- Reverend John Lane 1863-1874
- Reverend J.B. Sanderson 1874-1884
- Reverend James Grisby 1884-1896
- Reverend J. Alen Viney 1896-1900
- Reverend Oscar E. Jones 1900-1910
- Reverend F. Jesse Peck 1910-1915
- Reverend J.M. Brown 1915-1922
- Reverend Nelson Pryor 1922-1927
- Reverend T. Dean Scott 1927-1932
- Reverend Daniel G. Hill 1932-1943
- Reverend Pearl Bryant 1943-1945
- Reverend Justus E. Roberts 1945-1949
- Reverend Dr. H. Solomon Hill 1949-1960
- Reverend J. Russell Brown 1960-1971
- Reverend Edward S. Foust 1971-1977
- Reverend George R. Reid 1977-1981
- Reverend L. Fisher Hines 1981-1986
- Reverend Dr. Frederick Ormonde Murph 1986-1996
- Reverend Dr. Harold R. Mayberry 1996-
Scope and Content of Collection
The First African Methodist Episcopal Church (Oakland, Calif.) Collection includes administrative records, correspondence,
church service bulletins, events programs, photographs, and collected newspaper clippings. Administrative records consist
of the Lay Organization by-laws, meeting minutes, patron lists and financial reports. Correspondence consists of informational
letters to church members, memos and reports to and from various church reverends, and collected papers of Conference Branch
President Minnie Fletcher. Photographs are of bishops, pastors, and members of the church, including numerous posed, large
group shots of choir members and the congregation with the presiding reverend, and images of church building interiors and
exteriors. The collection is arranged into seven series: history, correspondence, minutes of the Banquet Committee meetings,
Lay Organization, Relocation Services scrapbook, published material, photographs, and clippings. The collection gives an overview
of religious history in Oakland for more than a century, including details about social functions and services that the church
provided to the community, and is a resource for those studying religion in the African American community in the San Francisco
Bay Area.
Series I: History
Series II: Correspondence
Series III: Minutes of the Banquet Committee meetings. 1931
Series IV: Lay Organization. circa 1960
Series V: Relocation Services scrapbook. 1954
Series VI: Published material
Series VII: Photographs
Series VIII: Clippings
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
First African Methodist Episcopal Church (Oakland, Calif.)
African American churches--California.
Oakland (Calif.)--History.
African Americans--California--History.
African Methodist Episcopal Church--History.