Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church

Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church was founded in 1839 in Princeton, New Jersey.[1] The church was formed after the Nassau Presbyterian Church allowed 90 of the 131 former African American members to form their own church, after a fire had devastated the Nassau church. The church is among New Jersey's oldest African American Presbyterian congregations.[2]

The sanctuary was built in 1840 in the Greek Revival style. The recessed entrance was a new and common design feature on religious architecture of the time.[3] The church was first called the "First Presbyterian Church of Color of Princeton", but reported to the General Assembly in 1845 as the "Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church".[1]

Betsey Stockton, who may have been the first black Presbyterian missionary in the U.S. helped found the church after she returned to Princeton in 1835 from her work as a missionary in Hawaii.[2] Reverend William Drew Robeson led the church as pastor from 1879. Robeson moved into the church parsonage with his wife Maria Louisa Bustill of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and their they raised their children, including Paul Robeson. Reverend Robeson was a former slave, and as such he preached racial equality, which eventually led to his forced resignation in 1901 for being "too radical."[1][2]

In 2018 the church installed a new pastor, Reverend Lukata Mjumbe, a graduate of the Princeton Theological Seminary.[4]

References
  1. "A Reckoning in Princeton". Presbyterian Historical Society. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  2. Nielsen, Euell A. (2016-11-30). "Witherspoon Street Church (1836– )". Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  3. "Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church". www.princetonnj.gov. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  4. Knapp, Krystal (2018-11-27). "Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church names new pastor". Planet Princeton. Retrieved 2020-05-11.

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