“We are not a museum; we are alive and well.” Rev. Deborah Lightfoot Oats addressed her Terre Haute African Methodist Episcopal (AME) congregation with these words in 2009. For many of Indiana’s AME churches, the balance between history and spirituality is tenuous. Many churches represent the collective history of African American settlers throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, symbols of unity through faith. Touring Indiana’s AME churches not only emphasizes the history of African American communities but demonstrates their resilience through discrimination and strife.\r\n\r\nThis tour explores the histories of many local AME churches, their congregations, and their buildings throughout Central and Southern Indiana.Many of Indiana’s earliest AME Churches are interlocked with William Paul Quinn, the fourth Bishop of the national church. Quinn’s ‘circuit’ connected much of Southern and Central Indiana’s Black communities. The oldest churches of this tour are inseparable from William Paul Quinn’s legacy in Indiana history.\r\n\r\nMany of these locations are either private or inaccessible. Please be respectful of private property lines when visiting each of these sites. Please remember that this is by no means a comprehensive list of sites in Indiana.
","postscript_text":"This student research was funded through the Wabash College Restoring Hope, Restoring Trust (RHRT) project sponsored by the Lilly Endowment’s Chartering the Future for Indiana’s Colleges and Universities grant program. RHRT specifically focuses on building research support for the study of Black men in higher education and for the African American historical and cultural sites in the State of Indiana. In support of this goal, the Robert T. Ramsay, Jr. Archival Center at Wabash College supported this student research project, and the student used the Ramsay Archival Center's Dr. Timothy Lake’s Black Cultural Sites in Indiana Collection in their research.","tour_img":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/0680c163948d6c0d2e9e8e187b726d4b.jpg","items":[{"id":145,"title":"Bethel AME Church (New Albany)","latitude":38.2866149999999976216713548637926578521728515625,"longitude":-85.8188559999999966976247378624975681304931640625,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/0680c163948d6c0d2e9e8e187b726d4b.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/0680c163948d6c0d2e9e8e187b726d4b.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":620,"title":"The Beech Church and Settlement","latitude":39.720531925466872280594543553888797760009765625,"longitude":-85.528536120056969593861140310764312744140625,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/764c36d3d001eeb775565b57b054236f.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/764c36d3d001eeb775565b57b054236f.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":345,"title":"Bethel AME Church (Indianapolis)","latitude":39.77315469999999919537003734149038791656494140625,"longitude":-86.1658651000000048725269152782857418060302734375,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/90d09476ca88cd11b1f0e403f51f3936.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/90d09476ca88cd11b1f0e403f51f3936.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":"414 W. Vermont St., Indianapolis, IN 46202","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":341,"title":"Bethel AME Church (Crawfordsville)","latitude":40.044944200000003320383257232606410980224609375,"longitude":-86.903825199999999995270627550780773162841796875,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/e2e80ae6734a91952480f39c52f9bf28.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/e2e80ae6734a91952480f39c52f9bf28.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":"213 North St W, Crawfordsville, IN 47933","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":619,"title":"Bethel AME (Richmond)","latitude":39.82582595000000225127223529852926731109619140625,"longitude":-84.8947849263013978315939311869442462921142578125,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/6c25986b25a9fa24469f4d9a09d899d3.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/6c25986b25a9fa24469f4d9a09d899d3.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":621,"title":"Bethel AME (Corydon)","latitude":38.21320446938775461376280873082578182220458984375,"longitude":-86.1215407346938803812008700333535671234130859375,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/c66a65006df8da8d3bd22f5d7c75b22c.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/c66a65006df8da8d3bd22f5d7c75b22c.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":623,"title":"Bethel AME (Lafayette)","latitude":40.4201083784572574586491100490093231201171875,"longitude":-86.8878812750520665986186941154301166534423828125,"thumbnail":null,"fullsize":null,"subtitle":null,"address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":622,"title":"Allen Chapel AME (Terre Haute)","latitude":39.4594680000000010977601050399243831634521484375,"longitude":-87.4145379999999931897036731243133544921875,"thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/4ed40527222c54ddd4c8d69339a4b217.jpg","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/4ed40527222c54ddd4c8d69339a4b217.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":625,"title":"Bethel Jeff (Jeffersonville)","latitude":38.2800500000000027966962079517543315887451171875,"longitude":-85.7258350000000035606717574410140514373779296875,"thumbnail":null,"fullsize":null,"subtitle":null,"address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":624,"title":"Bethel AME (Franklin)","latitude":39.48115500000000110958353616297245025634765625,"longitude":-86.061654000000004316461854614317417144775390625,"thumbnail":null,"fullsize":null,"subtitle":null,"address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}}]}