Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church

Front: This church, organized about 1865, held its early services in a nearby brush arbor but built a permanent sanctuary here soon afterwards. Rev. Daniel Humphries, its first pastor, served both Mt. Zion and its sister church St. James 1865-1879. The original sanctuary was torn down in 1918 and the present sanctuary was built that year with lumber from the old sanctuary. Reverse: Mt. Zion School, once located here, served the community for many years with church member I.S. Hilton as principal. Mt. Zion A.M.E. hosted several meetings from 1948 to 1954 on the desegregation of the public schools, and member Levi Pearson was the plaintiff in Pearson v. County Board of Education (1948), which led to the landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954).