St. Mark A.M.E.

Front: In 1885, sixty-five former members of Liberty Hill A.M.E. Church (3 mi. SE) organized this congregation to have a church closer to their homes. They first met in a small frame building that fronted Main Street. In 1905, members bought the old Summerton Presbyterian Church building and had it moved to this site, razing the old church. That second church was destroyed in 1915. Reverse: In the 1940s, St. Mark A.M.E. became an important site for NAACP-led efforts challenging inequality and segregation in Summerton schools. Long associated with Scott’s Branch School, which was located just N of the church before moving to 4th Street, St. Mark A.M.E. hosted fundraisers, rallies, and public meetings that culminated in Briggs v. Elliott, one of five cases decided in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 ruling that school segregation is unconstitutional.