The Abyssinian Meeting House Restoration: Presentation Announced at First Parish

Pam Cummings, President of the Board of The Abyssinian Meeting House, will speak at 10 a.m. on Sunday, June 19, at First Parish Unitarian Universalist, 425 Congress St. Cummings will discuss the history and restoration of the meeting house.

The First Parish congregation will share proceeds from that week's offering with The Abyssinian Meeting House to support the restoration project. All are welcome to hear Cummings tell the story of this local landmark. Masks are required. Live stream the service at https://firstparishportland.org/live-stream/.

"The Abyssinian Meeting House is a vital part of Portland's spiritual fabric," said the Rev. Elaine Peresluha, Interim Minister of First Parish. "We are honored to welcome Ms. Cummings to connect us more closely with this important institution."

The Abyssinian Meeting House, a National Historic Registry site located at 75 Newbury Street, was built in 1828, and was the historical, religious, educational, and cultural center of Portland's 19th-century African American community. Because of its easy access by rail and sea, Portland developed as one of the northernmost hubs of the Underground Railroad, the last stop before legal freedom outside the country. When the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, it allowed slave owners and their agents to track down freedom seekers in the North and return them to slavery. Portland's black and white activists reacted, providing safe houses and helping to organize escape routes to England and Canada. Despite the trepidation of some members, The Abyssinian Meeting House was closely associated with the Underground Railroad and with local abolitionist activity. Leaders and members of the Abyssinian Church actively participated in concealing, supplying, and transporting refugees from slavery, as recounted in slave narratives and oral traditions. The Portland Union Antislavery Society, founded in 1842, was one of several grassroots movements advocating for the abolition of slavery in the South. The founding meeting was held at The Abyssinian Meeting House. One unpublished memoir also refers to a fugitive slave being concealed in the meeting house itself.

The original First Parish church in what is now Portland dates from 1674. In 1740, the second wooden Meeting House, known as Old Jerusalem, was erected at the present location, 425 Congress St. The present granite structure opened its doors in 1826. As a family-friendly, welcoming Unitarian Universalist congregation, First Parish practices a liberal religion, affirming the worth of all humans and advocating freedom of belief and the search for advancing truth. Recent inclusion initiatives at First Parish include the installation of a "Black Lives Matter" sign over the entrance, a plaque and regular mentions in worship services noting early church leaders' complicity in genocide of Wabanaki people, and the installation of an elevator aimed at making the historic building more accessible to people with disabilities.

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