What does it take to preserve a Black not only a historic site—but as a living architecture of belonging, refuge, and enduring Black presence?

This episode centers on the A.M.E. Zion Church of Kingston, founded in 1848 and the oldest continuously active African American congregation in Ulster County, New York. Established in resistance to racial exclusion within white Methodist congregations, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church—often called the Freedom Church—emerged from a demand for dignity: the right to worship freely, to lead, and to build sacred space on Black terms. As one of the first denominations in the United States to ordain women as elders and to the pastorate, A.M.E. Zion carries a long tradition of Black women’s leadership, reflected in figures such as Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. In Kingston, that legacy lives on in the early women ministers who traveled the Hudson Valley to preach and in the women who sustain the congregation today.

Congregants Rashida and Maisha Tyler, alongside their mother, Terry Smith-Tyler, reflect on the responsibilities of stewardship, the enduring role of Black churches in civic and cultural life, and the ways faith undergirds long-term preservation work—from grant writing and fundraising to repairing roofs, restoring stained glass, and planning for accessibility. The episode also follows the congregation’s efforts to document its history, challenge erasure in a city that foregrounds Dutch colonial narratives, and navigate the National Register process, culminating in its listing in March 2021. This recognition was followed by support from the National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund through its Black Churches grant program in 2025.

bghpn.org / amezionkingston.org