Israel Chapel A. M. E. Church
Port Arthur, Jefferson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Frederick Shepherd, who helped the Rev. Napoleon Harris establish an African Methodist Episcopal (A. M. E.) mission in nearby Sabine in 1902, founded this church at his Port Arthur home in 1903 with the Rev. Harris serving as pastor. The first sanctuary, built here in 1904 on property donated by the Port Arthur Townsite and Land Company, also housed the area's first public school for African Americans. As membership expanded successively larger sanctuaries were built. the name Israel Chapel A. M. E. Church was officially recorded in 1959. The church continues to serve the community.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1903 Frederick Shepherd founded this African Methodist Episcopal congregation in his Port Arthur home, with the Rev. Napoleon Harris—whom he had helped establish a nearby A.M.E. mission the year before—as its first pastor. The sanctuary built in 1904 also housed the area's first public school for African Americans. As the congregation grew it built ever-larger sanctuaries, taking the name Israel Chapel A.M.E. Church in 1959.
Why it matters
Founded in the Jim Crow era, this church was both a spiritual home and the cradle of local Black education, showing how African American churches doubled as the institutions their communities were otherwise denied.
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Related people
- · Frederick Shepherd
- · Napoleon Harris
Themes & tags
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