Brown Chapel AME Church in the Northside featured in new Black history tour
DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh will debut a new tour called “Ride With the King: Black History Tour” on Saturday, Jan. 19. It will be an immersive experience in three of the churches in Pittsburgh’s African-American church community, including Brown Chapel AME Church in Allegheny City Central.
February is Black History Month and DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh is celebrating early over the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend with the debut of a new tour on Saturday, Jan. 19. “Ride With the King: Black History Tour” is a tour of three Pittsburgh churches, including Brown Chapel AME Church in Allegheny City Central, and will feature firsthand stories from leaders in the city’s African-American church community, which dates back to the 1800s.
The tour is an immersive experience, and will include storytelling about famous Hymnal musicians, contributions to the fight against slavery, the Underground Railroad and the growth of the AME church and its impact on the local African-American community. Light refreshments of the African-American culture will be offered in one of the churches.
The tour will be offered as both a bus tour and a self-guided tour. It starts downtown at the Heritage Center in the Dollar Bank Fourth Avenue Building, where visitors will see original handwritten ledgers containing records of Dollar Bank’s African-American customers from the 1800s. On display will be the 1860 ledger documenting Dollar Bank’s first mortgage to an African-American. Also on display will be the medical bag and license of Dollar Bank depositor John Paul Golden, M.D., the first black graduate of what would become the University of Pittsburgh Medical School.
The bus tour finishes at the August Wilson Center, where visitors will have a chance to explore “Familiar Boundaries. Infinite Possibilities,” featuring the work of 12 regional, national and international Black contemporary artists. The exhibition features Flying Girls the work of international artist Peju Alatise.
The event takes place from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. For tickets and additional information, please go to www.DoorsOpenPgh.org.
