What is the history of Little Rock AME Zion Church?

Little Rock AME Zion Church was founded by Thomas Henry Lomax (1832-1908) a native of Cumberland, North Carolina. He wanted to advance the interests of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, a denomination that had its roots in the North but began to move into North Carolina when Union forces occupied Beaufort and New Bern. After the civil war, AME Zion preachers rallied former slaves to a Christian institution devoid of white influence or power. Thomas Lomax received his license to preach in 1867 and came to Charlotte in 1873. He was assigned to the Clinton Chapel in Charlotte and after boosting their membership by nearly 700 members, he established a second church in Charlotte – The Little Rock AME Zion Church.  It was located on a parcel of land at South Graham Street between Second and Third Streets.

Thomas Lomax, became a Bishop and journeyed as a missionary. The church prospered and in June 1884, the congregation purchased land at 401 North Myers Street (the current site of the Afro-American Cultural Center) and constructed a small wooden building for worship. The congregation continued to grow, and by 1893 a larger structure was needed. During this time, black people were still being demeaned and feeling the negative attitudes of white people. S.D. Watkins, minister of Little Rock AME Zion Church from 1900 to 1906 wanted to build a more imposing structure for the congregation than the wooden buildings to show his people and the congregation that they were better than others would have them believe. He decided to raise money to secure an architect. W.R. Douglas succeeded Watkins as minister in 1906 and continued the building fund effort. By May 1908, the congregation had raised $2000. They received a building permit in 1910, and the larger brick home of the Little Rock AME Zion Church was completed in June 1911. It cost $20,000 to build and was raised entirely by the primarily black working-class congregation. This was a phenomenal sum of money for a black congregation of that era. The building became a symbol of the vision and hope of Charlotte's black community in the fifty years after the Civil War.

The official history of the Little Rock AME Zion Church reveals the text for the first sermon, preached by the minister, W.R. Douglas, was taken from Nehemiah 4:6. It reads "So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof; for the people had a mind to work."

In 1981 the congregation moved to a new, larger structure across from the 1910 structure at Myers Street. It is the fourth structure in Little Rock's history. Most black landmarks of First Ward succumbed to Urban Renewal, but two churches remain as a reminder of the neighborhood's black heritage; the First United Presbyterian Church at East Seventh and North College which dates back to 1893, and the Old Little Rock AME Zion Church, which is home to the Afro-American Cultural Center at 401 North Myers Street at North Seventh and North McDowell Streets.

Who designed and constructed the brick Little Rock AME Zion Church?
Rejecting the standard church designs available from the A.M.E. Zion offices, the congregation secured the talents of Charlotte's leading church architect, James Mackson McMichael (1870-1944). McMichael, a native of Harrisburg, Pa., moved to Charlotte in 1901, where he flourished as an architect for over forty years, specializing in churches, built both in Charlotte and throughout the southeastern United States. McMichael's design of the Little Rock AME Zion Church reflects a strong Neoclassical influence, different from the Gothic style that had dominated local church architecture before McMichael began practice. A white portico with Ionic columns dominates the front facade of the then two-story brick structure. A pair of belfries flank the entrance, each topped by a dome, the McMichael trademark.