“They Will Build Houses and Dwell in Them, Plant Vineyards and Eat Their Fruit”: Black Methodism in Georgia and the Black Political Leadership

During Reconstruction, Black churches developed into safe spaces and Black ministers became great
comforters to their congregations. Rising from congregations in the North, the African Methodist
Episcopal Church (AME) and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Zion (AME Zion), often contended
with the Colored Methodist Church (CME) in the south for members as former slaves left behind the
white Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC,S). Black Methodist churches offered freed men and
women freedom of worship and speech, and they also provided the political and social shelter needed
to challenge white Methodists in the South who competed for influence with Black congregations.
Consequently, Black ministers often developed into political leaders both in and out of their
communities. My paper examines how tensions played out in Georgia as ministers in the AME, AME,
Zion, and CME Churches served as politicians in the Georgia legislature from 1868 – 1874 and at the
same time struggled with social and political realities facing their churches