“The history of Harlem churches is bound up with the history of cities and the changes that happen within the cities,” said Prof. Wallace Best, who teaches African American studies and religion at Princeton University and is writing a book on Black churches in Harlem. But the church will be unable to financially sustain itself and uphold its legacy of tending to the spiritual, political, and social needs of its community, without a dramatic uptick in its membership and donation flow. On any given Sunday, a few dozen or so churchgoers, primarily a mixture of older congregants and curious tourists, fill the pews. The First Sunday After Second-class TreatmentThe very first Sunday service of the church was held in 1796 in a cabinetmaker’s shop in Lower Manhattan on Cross Street, flanked by Orange and Mulberry Streets. A group of former slaves, dissatisfied with their second-class treatment in the predominantly white John Street Methodist Church, left to start Zion church under the leadership of its first bishop, James Varick.

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Persons: ”, Wallace Best, paraders, Adam Clayton Powell Jr, James Varick Organizations: African, Princeton University, National Trust for Historic Preservation, The New York Times, Cross, John Street Methodist Church, John Street Methodist, Methodist Church, Episcopal Locations: Harlem, Lower Manhattan, Orange, Mulberry, ”