Rock of Ages Christian Methodist Episcopal Church 1866

African Americans formed the Rock of Ages Colored Methodist Episcopal congregation c. 1907. The congregation moved into a new church in 1956, when it became the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME). The name change signaled the congregation's repudiation of the Jim Crow era, and they became more active in the Labor and Civil Rights Movements. With many of its members active in the Labor Movement. Rock of Ages CME Church served as a cornerstone institution in the Binghampton neighborhood of Memphis. Beginning in 1960, sanitation workers began demanding an end to discrimination and an affirmation of their civil rights. Rock of Ages CME Church was closely associated with this movement since many of its members labored as sanitation workers and the church served as a meeting center, involved in both the Labor and Civil Rights Movement. In 1968, the congregation's members participated in the Memphis Sanitation Strike. The church was also part of the Memphis Area Project-South (MAP-South), an important effort allied with the War on Poverty in the mid-1960s. On April 10, 2017, the National Park Service listed Rock of Ages CME Church in the National Register of Historical Places.