MILWAUKEE — Standing proudly on Atkinson Avenue is St. Mark African Methodist Episcopal Church, which welcomes hundreds of parishioners in Milwaukee.
But to understand the true scope of its impact we have to go back in time to 1869, when it was first created.
"They didn't think a Black church could maintain and keep its own and it did," said Clayborn Benson, the founder of Wisconsin's Black Historical Society. "It started with some hesitations, but it did start."
That's where this story starts, too—over a century and a half ago, when a group of enslaved African Americans came together to create the first Black church in Milwaukee.
Benson says, at that time, judges only granted African Americans the right to congregate in groups larger than three for religious gatherings.
"Judges also permitted them to maintain land even though they were enslaved," Benson explained.
That also makes St. Mark AME the first Black-owned property in the city, but 155 years ago, it operated as much more than that.
"Back then, it was the most important important institution in Milwaukee's African American community. The church was the focus for all the community activity, meetings, and discussion sessions."
The church functioned as a place of worship and a cornerstone of belonging while African Americans fought through slavery, segregation, and civil rights in the city.
"That idea of freedom, again, was the motivation for wanting to start," said Benson.
Over the years it's moved from building to building before landing in its current spot 55 years ago.
Benson said through those hardships, the very beginning of a rich and vibrant community was born here in Milwaukee
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