Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church building up Atlanta’s Black community

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is known for being the first Black church in Atlanta.

But it doesn’t always get credit for its role in shaping the civil rights movement, Black education, social change, and even political influence.

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For over a century, Big Bethel has been lifting up Black voices when others tried to silence them.

“There wasn’t a bigger Black-held facility in the city of Atlanta than this place. Us and Wheat Street were it for Black congregations meeting over a thousand people,” said Pastor John Foster.

For the past 11 years, Pastor Foster has been a testament to the true power of what ministry can do.

“We support a halfway house for men dealing with substance abuse two blocks away. Right behind us is this 180-unit affordable housing complex called Bethel Towers that gives subsidized housing to the community,” Pastor Foster said. “We have young people that work really diligently with the homeless.”

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The work didn’t start there. Turn the page back to the late 1700s and head north to Pennsylvania where former slave Richard Allen was forbidden from praying at St. George’s Church.

Determined to worship, Allen formed the original Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. His voice eventually spread all the way to the south, leading to Atlanta’s first Methodist Episcopal Church — Bethel Tabernacle.

“During the 1960s, Big Bethel was one of the four pillars civil rights churches. It was on this strip here — Wheat Street, then Big Bethel, and then Ebenezer and Butler Street,” Pastor Foster said.

The church became the Black city hall for prominent civil rights leaders and politicians to meet.

In 1881, the church decided to establish a space for higher learning.

“Eventually we started having some classes held here at Big Bethel,” said Historian Ernest Tate. “There were other sites as well.”

Born out of the basement of Big Bethel, it would be called Morris Brown College.

“I couldn’t ask for anything better,” said Morris Brown College graduate Charles Moore.

At 100 years old, Moore still remembers his time on campus after fighting in World War II. He majored in business and graduated with honors. He returned later to run business operations for the HBCU.

“I ended up staying there 15 years at Morris Brown. Could you imagine that?” Moore said.

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The walls of Big Bethel have borne witness to success stories like Brother Moore, offering a platform for Black folks to stand on.

“You have everything from the first NAACP conference in the south that was held at Big Bethel in 1920,” Tate said.

“This area just holds a great amount of pride and history about what God has done through the African-American community,” Pastor Foster said.

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