Not sure but 4th Presbyterian in philly has a tradition that they were part of the underground railroad and there is a black church a block away started in 1787
Walk on hallowed ground at Mother Bethel AME Church, the mother church of the nation’s first black denomination.
Founded in 1787,
so you think they would have just blended in.
I was once an acquaintance with and held frequent discussions with a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion church (formed in New York City). (Not to be confused with the AME Church formed in Philadelphia.)
Both Churches were formed by black ministers who felt blacks were being discriminated against in the churches they were part of, which were generally churches accepting all races. Both the AME church and the AME Zion church grew out of the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) tradition, when, during the growth of the MEC, beginning in the North and then increasing in the south, some MEC churches seemed to move away, in places, from a tradition totally opposed to slavery. Some MEC black ministers felt the MEC was moving away from its founding traditions that occurred during the Great Awakening.
Yes, the issue of slavery was part of schisms of different Protestant churches over the years.