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First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles

First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles
FieldValue
nameFirst African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles
imageFirst AME Church Los Angeles.jpg
captionFirst AME Church Los Angeles
2270 S. Harvard Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA
denominationAfrican Methodist Episcopal Church
founded date1872
seniorpastorJ. Edgar Boyd
country
websitehttp://www.famechurch.org/

2270 S. Harvard Boulevard Los Angeles, CA The First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles (First A.M.E. or FAME) is a megachurch in Los Angeles, California, United States, part of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. It is the oldest church founded by African Americans in Los Angeles, dating to 1872. It has more than 19,000 members.{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818055628/http://www.famechurch.org/about.html |archive-date=2010-08-18 |url-status=live

History

The church was established in 1872 under the sponsorship of Biddy Mason, an African American nurse and a California real estate entrepreneur and philanthropist, and her son-in-law Charles Owens. The organizing meetings were held in Mason's home on Spring Street and she donated the land on which the first church was built.{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309031659/http://www.californiamuseum.org/trails/#trails/women/biddy_mason |archive-date=2012-03-09 |url-status=live

The parent AME Church is a Methodist denomination founded by the Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1816. The AME Church now has over 2,000,000 members in North and South America, Africa and Europe, and includes other major churches such as the Greater Allen A. M. E. Cathedral of New York with over 23,000 members and the Reid Temple A.M.E. Church in Glenn Dale, Maryland with over 15,000 members.{{cite web |url-status = dead

The former location of this church was at 8th & Towne (1902 - 1968) and in 1971, while at that location, it was nominated as Los Angeles' "#71 Landmark." The location prior to that was on Azusa Street, a building that was rented to the Azusa Street mission. The 8th & Towne building was burned down July 4, 1972, and was razed. The current church, located in the West Adams district, was completed in 1968. It was designed by African American architect Paul R. Williams.

In 1993 Federal authorities unearthed an alleged plot by young men associated with the "Fourth Reich Skinheads" to attack the First AME Church. The accused, said to be planning to blow up the church to ignite a race war, negotiated plea bargains with prosecutors.

Leadership

In 1977 Cecil Murray was assigned to the church as pastor. At that time it had 300 members. Under Murray's leadership the church grew during the next 27 years to a membership of 18,000 people.{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927154444/http://cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkconnect/index.cfm?fa=ccfi.viewrecord&cfnumber=04-1567&CFID=17244012&CFTOKEN=3638cd1a9fe314bc-48CFCB07-CA80-DA1B-201877CF5FD56E68&jsessionid=f030ad76e870303285934ca58255803d6357 |archive-date=2011-09-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100704074018/http://crcc.usc.edu/about/personnel/cecil-l-murray.html |archive-date=2010-07-04 |url-status=live

In 2004 the Reverend Dr. John Joseph Hunter succeeded Cecil Murray as senior minister. In 2008 Hunter entered into a repayment plan to pay for tax obligations, family vacations, clothes and jewelry purchased with church funds.{{cite web |access-date=2010-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025232359/http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/06/opinion/ed-hunter6 |archive-date=October 25, 2012 |url-status=live |access-date=2010-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131080635/http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/02/local/me-fame2 |archive-date=January 31, 2010 |url-status=live |access-date=2010-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025232508/http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/05/local/me-briefs5.S4 |archive-date=October 25, 2012 |url-status=live |access-date=2010-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629034939/http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Flos_angeles&id=7103595 |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |url-status=live

Social involvement

[[Kamala Harris]] and [[Eric Garcetti]] at the First AME Church of Los Angeles in 2020.

The church is a center of political and social action in the city.{{cite web |access-date=2010-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025232227/http://articles.latimes.com/1990-03-11/local/me-316_1_first-african-methodist-episcopal-church |archive-date=October 25, 2012 |url-status=live |access-date=2010-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312150027/http://articles.latimes.com/1989-12-15/local/me-446_1_apartment-complex |archive-date=March 12, 2012 |url-status=live

After an earthquake in January 1994 FAME Renaissance, the nonprofit economic development arm of First AME Church, helped provide loans of up to $25,000 for affected small and new businesses who could not get help otherwise.{{cite web |access-date=2010-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025232314/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-10-23/news/ci-53915_1_resource-center |archive-date=October 25, 2012 |url-status=live |access-date=2010-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091204153402/http://articles.latimes.com/2009/sep/21/local/me-fame21 |archive-date=December 4, 2009 |url-status=live

References

References

  1. (October 22, 2008). "Black Clergy both attack, defend Propl 8". [[Los Angeles Times]].
  2. "First African Methodist Episcopal Church - Los Angeles Conservancy".
  3. (July 28, 1993). "Suspect in Alleged Hate Crimes Plot Released to His Parents". Los Angeles Times.
  4. Eric Malnic. (September 16, 1993). "Plea Bargains Reached in Skinhead Bomb Case". Los Angeles Times.
  5. Samaha, Albert. (November 12, 2012). "Bethel AME, S.F.'s Oldest Black Church, Won't Appoint Controversial Pastor John J. Hunter". [[SF Weekly]].
  6. Jennings, Angel. (December 6, 2012). "First AME Church files lawsuit against former pastor". [[Los Angeles Times]].
  7. "Cecil L. Murray". University of Southern California.
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This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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