TAMPA, Fla. — Over the next month, we will be highlighting the impact African Americans have had on the Tampa Bay area. You’ll hear about historical Black figures and places that helped to make the area what it is today.
Fred Hearns, a historian with the Tampa History Center, highlights the St. Paul A.M.E. Church, a church that served as a place of worship and civil rights activism.
“In 1870, African Americans wanted to open a church in the downtown area near the scrub where many Black people lived,” said Hearns.
African American Methodists decided to open what became the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church on 502 E. Harrison St.
“St. Paul became the largest Black-owned facility in Tampa,” Hearns continued. “When all of the seats were filled – including the basement, the sanctuary and the balcony – St. Paul would hold about 800 people,” Hearns said the church was a place he went to growing. “I can remember as a junior high school student going to programs there. Then, later on, it became the place where many of the important civil rights meetings and rallies were held in Tampa,” said Hearns.
Today, the worshiping congregation is located in east Tampa in a church known as the New St. Paul A.M.E. Church.
