From...
Black Georgetown Remembered: A History of Its Black Community from the Founding of "The Town of George" in 1751 to the Present Day, by Kathleen M. Lesko, Valerie Babb & Carroll R. Gibbs. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1991.
p. 138
"Black Churches in Georgetown
"Georgetown today has five black churches clustered in the eastern area of town formerly known as "Herring Hill." These churches represent a time when Georgetown was home to a thriving black community. Their congregations have decreased by nearly fifty percent since the black exodus from the neighborhood during the 1940s and 1950s. Today they survive primarily as commuter churches and symbols of a continuing black presence in Georgetown.
Mount Zion United Methodist Church
"Mount Zion United Methodist Church, located at 1334 29th Street, is the oldest black congregation in the District of Columbia. Its origins can be traced to the Montgomery Street Church (now the Dumbarton United Methodist Church), nearly half of whose membership in the early nineteenth century consisted of former slaves and free blacks. On June 3, 1814, 125 black members of the Montgomery Street Church, reacting to the segregation practices of the times, formed a new church that was supervised by the parent church. In 1816 they purchased a lot at 27th and P Streets and built a small church known as "The Meeting House" and "The Ark."
[Senior Ushers, Mount Zion United Methodist Church 1920.
Courtesy of Mount Zion United Methodist Church Archives.]
Courtesy of Mount Zion United Methodist Church Archives.]
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JMT
TCDC
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