Research Catalog

Title

Abyssinian Baptist Church Oral History Project audio collection.

Author

Abyssinian Baptist Church (New York, N.Y.) creator.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Brown, Helen E.
• Clark, Robbie L.
• Craig, Susan W.
• Goodson, Martia Graham
• Jones, Gwendolyn
• McCall, Esther
• Noble, Estelle B.
• Pennington, Fannie
• Stokes, Olivia Pearl, 1916-
• Terry, Amy W.
• Thomas, Laura B.
• Preservation of the Black Religious Heritage Project.
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.

Description

20 audiocassettes.

Summary

The Abyssinian Baptist Church Oral History Project consists of twenty audio recordings comprising interviews with ten African American women about their recollections as active church members. All the women interviewed in 1992 were over seventy years old, and one was over ninety. The interviewees were: Helen Brown, Robbie Clark, Susan Craig, Gwendolyn Jones, Esther McCall, Estelle Noble, Fannie Pennington, Olivia Pearl Stokes, Amy Terry, and Laura B. Thomas. The women were all involved in several clubs and organizations within the church, and many held leadership positions. The topics discussed range from the women's personal and work lives, church life including church clubs and organizations, Adam Clayton Powell Sr. and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. 's ministries, social activism and political campaigns, as well as the historical context of the time.

Subjects

• Video recordings
• Sound recordings
• United States > Race relations
• Harlem (New York, N.Y.) > Church history
• Harlem (New York, N.Y.) > Social conditions
• Harlem (New York, N.Y.) > Social life and customs
• African American churches > New York (State) > New York
• African American Baptists > New York (State) > New York
• African Americans > Civil rights
• African American politicians
• African American leadership
• African American clergy > New York (State) > New York
• African Americans > Social life and customs
• African Americans > Social conditions
• African Americans > Religion
• African American women
• Adam Clayton Powell Community Center (New York, N.Y.)
• Abyssinian Baptist Church (New York, N.Y.)
• Holstein, Casper, 1876-1944
• Hansen, Austin, 1910-1996
• Walker, Wyatt Tee
• Licorish, David N
• Clark, Odell, 1910-1980
• Powell, A. Clayton (Adam Clayton), 1865-1953
• Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr., 1908-1972

Genre/Form

• Sound recordings.
• Video recordings.

Note

• The congregation that would become the Abyssinian Baptist Church was formed in 1808 when visiting free Ethiopian seamen and a group of African Americans refused to accept segregated seating in the First Baptist Church of New York City formed the Abyssinian Baptist Church in lower Manhattan. The Abyssinian Baptist Church Oral History Project consists of interviews with ten African American women about their recollections of the church as longtime members. Conducted by Dr. Martia G. Goodson, an American historian specializing in African American oral history, focused the interviews on the church's activities from 1940 to 1970.
• The Abyssinian Baptist Church Oral History Project was undertaken in 1991 as one of the activities of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture's Preservation of the Black Religious Heritage Project.

Call Number

Sc MIRS Abyssinian 1995-23

OCLC

1176240381

Author

Abyssinian Baptist Church (New York, N.Y.) creator.

Title

Abyssinian Baptist Church Oral History Project audio collection.

Type of Content

spoken word

Type of Medium

audio

Type of Carrier

audiocassette

Local Note

Forms part of the Abyssinian Baptist Church (New York, N.Y.) archive. Papers can be found in the Manuscripts, Archives & Rare Books Division: Abyssinian Baptist Church Oral History Project, 1992 (Sc MG 671).

Connect to:

Request Access to Schomburg Moving Images and Recorded Sound

Added Author

Brown, Helen E., interviewee.

Clark, Robbie L., interviewee.

Craig, Susan W., interviewee.

Goodson, Martia Graham, interviewer.

Jones, Gwendolyn, interviewee.

McCall, Esther, interviewee.

Noble, Estelle B., interviewee.

Pennington, Fannie, interviewee.

Stokes, Olivia Pearl, 1916- interviewee.

Terry, Amy W., interviewee.

Thomas, Laura B., interviewee.

Preservation of the Black Religious Heritage Project.

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.

Research Call Number

Sc MIRS Abyssinian 1995-23