St. Joseph's African Methodist Episcopal Church is a historic African Methodist Episcopal church building located at Fayetteville Street and Durham Expressway in the Hayti District, now a neighborhood of Durham, Durham County, North Carolina.
History Started soon after the American Civil War by black workers, the Hayti District became a well-developed and self-sufficient black community, complete with a variety of businesses and services, including theatre, hospital and hotel.Washington, Booker T. "Durham, North Carolina, A City of Negro Enterprises," The Booker T. Washington Papers, Volume 11: 1911-12. Louis R. Harlan and Raymond W. Smock, eds. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981. pp. 56-64
The church was built in 1891, by a congregation that had organized in 1869, brought together in meetings in a "brush arbor" organized by Edian Markham, a former slave and AME missionary. After building a couple of wooden structures, the congregation raised money for this brick church, including funds donated by white philanthropists.Louis Allston, "The History of St. Joseph’s AME Church and the St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation", St. Joseph Historic Foundation, 2012, accessed 19 June 2012
Edian Markham is buried in Geer Cemetery.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
It is now used by the St. Joseph Historic Foundation as the Hayti Heritage Centre for cultural and community activities.
References
External links Hayti Heritage Center - St. Joseph's Historic Foundation Hayti Heritage Center at Google Cultural Institute