Exhibit Witnesses to Strength of Black Churches

CAPE MAY – The struggles and commitment of African-American men and women to faith and community are illustrated by a new exhibit that opened on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday at the Emlen Physick Estate Carriage House Gallery.
Entitled “Can I Get a Witness,” it features stories and photos that describe African-American churches in Cape May, Whitesboro, Wildwood, Ocean City, Court House, Woodbine and Swainton.
Cape May’s Allen AME Church was first mentioned in records in 1841. Its history contains a disagreement of where to build the church which caused three-quarters of the congregation’s members to leave to build another church which was completed in 1888.
Macedonia Baptist Church has its roots in the “Religious Society and Congregation of Colored Baptists” who met in 1892 to organize a church. T.S. Davis was elected to serve as moderator.
The Macedonia Baptist Church choir is heard over speakers as part of the display.
The exhibit tells of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Sea Grove, later renamed Cape May Point. The congregation was formed in 1883 by Rev. G. T. Waters and met in a small chapel on Alexander Avenue where most of the African-American community resided.
Many of the residents worked in hotels and boarding houses. The church burned down in the 1920s and according to reports, two white youths bragged about setting fire to the church.
A poster tells of Jarena Lee, born in Cape May of free parents, who became the first woman officially acknowledged to preach in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the first African-American woman to publish her biography.
Bernadette Matthews, executive director of the Center for Community Arts (CCA), said the origin of the exhibit was collected items from the Franklin Street United Methodist Church which closed and was converted into upscale condominiums. Some pews and stained glass windows were saved from salvage.
Rather than focus only on the former Franklin Street United Methodist Church, CCA decided to include a number of churches due to the strong similarity of the history of African -American churches in this county, she said.
Black churches in Cape May provided a haven for its members, said Matthews.
She thanked those who unknowingly contributed to the exhibit as clergy, choir members, officers and members of the churches represented in the exhibit.
Tom Carroll, third vice president of the Mid Atlantic Center for the Arts, thanked Yvonne Scaggs for designing the exhibit.
“I remember when the church was the hub of the community, just about everyone went to church,” said Emily Dempsey.
She pointed to a photo from the 1940s of summer Bible school held jointly by Macedonia Baptist Church, Allen AME Church and Franklin Street United Methodist Church. Dempsey said she was able to identify three-quarters of the persons in the photo.
On Feb. 27 at 4 p.m., a panel discussion will be held at the exhibit on attempts to grow the black church in Cape May County featuring pastors and elders on led by Bishop Robinson from Christ Gospel Church in Whitesboro.