Little Rock, Arkansas – On Sunday morning, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Little Rock commemorated a significant anniversary.
It was the church’s 160th birthday on Sunday. It is situated on West 16th Street downtown.
Near the close of the Civil War, Nathan Warren founded the church that would later become Bethel AME.
Looking back on the church’s history, according to Pastor Truman Tolefree, makes him incredibly happy.
“Just looking back over the trail, Amen, over which we have come and the ways that God has blessed us and on the shoulders of all of those individuals that we currently stand. I was just feeling sheer joy.”
African American lawyer Scipio Africanus Jones, Daisy Bates, and a few Little Rock Nine members were among the former Bethel AME members.
Additionally, church members played a key role in the establishment of Shorter College.