Last updated: January 8, 2025
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Historic St. Joseph African Methodist Episcopal Church (Durham, North Carolina)
African American Civil Rights Network
Historic St. Joseph African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church in Durham, North Carolina is the former home of St. Joseph A.M.E. Church. Founded shortly after the Civil War, the church played a significant role in the lives of Durham’s Black residents. In the 1900s, the building served as a forum for planning and training sessions, meetings, and rallies associated with the Civil Rights Movement in the city.
In 1869, Reverend Edian Markum and six others founded St. Joseph A.M.E. Church as Union Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, named in honor of the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The pastor later organized one of the earliest schools for African Americans in Durham in the small space. In 1892, the congregation began construction on a new church building and at that time changed the church’s name to St. Joseph A.M.E. Church. The church helped anchor Hayti, a large, thriving community that was the center of African American life in Durham. By the 1950s, thousands of African Americans and numerous businesses called Hayti home.
As the civil rights movement intensified in the 1950s, St. Joseph A.M.E. Church members were among those who employed coordinated civil disobedience and legal action in campaigns against racial, political, economic, and social injustice. Through marches, pickets, sit-ins, and boycotts, protestors demanded desegregation of the city’s departments, programs, and venues including hospitals, schools, libraries, recreational facilities, and privately-owned concerns such as stores, restaurants, hotels, and motels. Local government agencies, business owners, and service providers were pressed to integrate facilities and hire African American workers.
The church hosted myriad gatherings and conventions to champion freedoms for African American residents in Durham. For example, the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs sponsored mass meetings at the church in 1954 to advocate for school desegregation, voter registration, employment equity, and a new fire station in Hayti. The next year, the church hosted the opening meeting of the North Carolina National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) annual convention. In 1957, on the third anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the Durham Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance sponsored a meeting at St. Joseph A.M.E. Church to encourage support of school desegregation and other equal rights campaigns.
Beginning in the late 1950s, interstate development and urban renewal devastated Hayti. As a result of this redevelopment, St. Jospeh A.M.E. relocated to a new building in the mid-1970s. However, the old structure escaped demolition. Today, the building is stewarded by the St. Joseph’s Historic foundation and home to the Hayti Heritage Center.
Historic St. Joseph African Methodist Episcopal Church became a member of the African American Civil Rights Network in 2024.
The African American Civil Rights Network recognizes the African American Civil Rights Movement in the United States and the sacrifices made by those who fought against discrimination and segregation. Created by the African American Civil Rights Act of 2017, and coordinated by the National Park Service, the Network tells the stories of the people, places, and events of the U.S. African American Civil Rights Movement through a collection of public and private resources to include properties, facilities, and programs.
Historic St. Joseph African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church in Durham, North Carolina is the former home of St. Joseph A.M.E. Church. Founded shortly after the Civil War, the church played a significant role in the lives of Durham’s Black residents. In the 1900s, the building served as a forum for planning and training sessions, meetings, and rallies associated with the Civil Rights Movement in the city.
In 1869, Reverend Edian Markum and six others founded St. Joseph A.M.E. Church as Union Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, named in honor of the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The pastor later organized one of the earliest schools for African Americans in Durham in the small space. In 1892, the congregation began construction on a new church building and at that time changed the church’s name to St. Joseph A.M.E. Church. The church helped anchor Hayti, a large, thriving community that was the center of African American life in Durham. By the 1950s, thousands of African Americans and numerous businesses called Hayti home.
As the civil rights movement intensified in the 1950s, St. Joseph A.M.E. Church members were among those who employed coordinated civil disobedience and legal action in campaigns against racial, political, economic, and social injustice. Through marches, pickets, sit-ins, and boycotts, protestors demanded desegregation of the city’s departments, programs, and venues including hospitals, schools, libraries, recreational facilities, and privately-owned concerns such as stores, restaurants, hotels, and motels. Local government agencies, business owners, and service providers were pressed to integrate facilities and hire African American workers.
The church hosted myriad gatherings and conventions to champion freedoms for African American residents in Durham. For example, the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs sponsored mass meetings at the church in 1954 to advocate for school desegregation, voter registration, employment equity, and a new fire station in Hayti. The next year, the church hosted the opening meeting of the North Carolina National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) annual convention. In 1957, on the third anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the Durham Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance sponsored a meeting at St. Joseph A.M.E. Church to encourage support of school desegregation and other equal rights campaigns.
Beginning in the late 1950s, interstate development and urban renewal devastated Hayti. As a result of this redevelopment, St. Jospeh A.M.E. relocated to a new building in the mid-1970s. However, the old structure escaped demolition. Today, the building is stewarded by the St. Joseph’s Historic foundation and home to the Hayti Heritage Center.
Historic St. Joseph African Methodist Episcopal Church became a member of the African American Civil Rights Network in 2024.
The African American Civil Rights Network recognizes the African American Civil Rights Movement in the United States and the sacrifices made by those who fought against discrimination and segregation. Created by the African American Civil Rights Act of 2017, and coordinated by the National Park Service, the Network tells the stories of the people, places, and events of the U.S. African American Civil Rights Movement through a collection of public and private resources to include properties, facilities, and programs.