Designated as a National Historic Site in 1974, the African Meeting House is the oldest surviving African American church building in the U.S. In 1805, the First African Baptist Congregation bought the land and hired Asher Benjamin to build the church. Since funds were limited, plans for the façade were adapted from an existing townhouse design by Boston architect Asher Benjamin. Dedicated in 1806, the meeting house was also used as a school. Known as the “Black Faneuil Hall” during the Abolitionist period, William Lloyd Garrison founded his New England Anti-Slavery Society there in 1832. Abolitionists including Garrison, Maria Stewart, Wendell Phillips, Sarah Grimke, and Frederick Douglass all spoke at the meeting house. In 1899 At the turn of the 20th century, the building was sold to the Anshe Libowitz Anshei Libavitz congregation and it was used as a synagogue. In 1972, the building was acquired by the Museum of African Afro-American History (today known as the Museum of African American History). With federal funding — and subsequent renovations over the decades—the building was restored to its earlier appearance of 1855. It reopened in 2011.
Among women abolitionists active in this church before the Civil War was Maria Stewart (1803-79) who challenged other free African American women: “O, ye daughters of Africa, Awake! Awake! Arise! No longer sleep nor slumber but distinguish yourselves. Show forth to the world that ye are endowed with noble and exalted faculties.” Stewart is credited as the first American-born woman to speak in public before an audience that included both men and women. There is a marker at her home at 81 Joy (formerly Belknap) Street.
Nancy Gardner Prince (1799-1859) moved to Boston as a young woman in search of work in 1816 and was baptized at the African Meeting House the following year. In 1824, she married Nero Prince and moved with her husband to Russia. Prince lived in Russia until 1833, when she returned home due to health concerns. Her husband died in Russia. After returning to Boston, Prince became an important member of the free Black community. She helped to establish a society for orphans that unfortunately failed after three months, and in 1840, sailed to Jamaica to carry out abolitionist work.
In 1839, Prince was a member of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society and gave two lectures on Russian culture that were presented at the Abiel Smith School and Rev. J. C. Beman’s church on Cambridge Street. In 1847 Prince led the women of Smith Court in saving their neighbor Mrs. Dorsey from recapture by the slave catcher Woodfork. Woodfork did not return to Boston until after 1850 and the passage of the Federal Fugitive Slave Law. In 1853, Prince published A Narrative of the Life and Travels of Mrs. Nancy Prince Written by Herself in order to continue supporting herself.
