Breaking Chains, Building Communities: The Story of the AME Church

Rev. Dr. Terrance Thomas, pastor of Bethel AME Church in Champaign, traced the AME denomination from the Free African Society and Richard Allen's 1787 walkout at St. George's through the 1793 yellow fever epidemic, slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the civil rights movement and Black liberation theology. He closed on Bethel's local history: its 1863 founding, housing for Black U of I students denied campus life, its role in making Project 500 workable, and present-day COVID, anti-violence and civic-engagement work. Michael Crosby of First Mennonite Church, Urbana, introduced him; audience questions followed on reparations, Black liberation theology and BNAC. Spring 2025 Friday Forum x Conversation Cafe series.