St. John's Church
Pages from the St. John's Church Marriage Register showing African American couples.
Credit: St. John's Church
Every president since James Madison has attended services at St. John's Church. This distinctive yellow church was the second building to be constructed on Lafayette Square and has always been a symbolic and important house of worship in Washington, D.C.. Its original purpose was to serve as a place of worship for the inhabitants of the White House. Visitors to Lafayette Square can enter St. John's Church from the 16th Street entrance to see the sanctuary and the Presidents' Pews.
Reverend William Hawley, the second Rector of St. John's, baptized and married African Americans of all legal statuses when he led the Church from 1817 to 1845. Many of these marriages took place in the Rector's own home, adjacent to the Church, with his wife and family as witnesses. According to the marriage register of St. John's, Reverend Hawley performed weddings for 6 couples identified as "slaves," 38 identified as "colored," and 2 identified as "colored (free)." For example, on January 11, 1828, the Reverend Hawley married Emmeline Matthews, listed as "colored" to William Prates, listed as a slave. The very next marriage he performed was for John Quincy Adams' son John and his bride Mary Hellen. A selected transcription is available.
In 1865, the Rector of St. John's worked with a group of 28 African Americans to establish a new Episcopal church. A member of St. John's donated land in the Foggy Bottom area of Washington for the construction of a church building, which was named St. Mary's Chapel for Colored People in 1867. Six years later, St. Mary's hired its first African-American rector, Alexander Crummell. To find out more about St. John's response to its own segregation and the Civil Rights Movement click here.
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St. John's Church Tour Audio
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Related Images:
 St. John's Church Baptism Register Click Image to Enlarge Pages from the St. John's Church Baptism Register showing African American babies.  St. John's Church today. Click Image to Enlarge Designed by Benjamin Latrobe, St. John's Church is a early historic building on Lafayette Square in Washington, DC. |
Related Subjects:
Institutions
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Weddings at St. John's Church | Selected entries from the St. John's Church marriage register. |
| Lafayette Square | An enslaved woman buys her freedom and changes the nation's history.... |
| Freedman's Savings & Trust Co. Bank Book | Scan of the cover, back, and two inside pages of bank book from the Washington Branch of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Co. |
| Freedman's Savings & Trust Co. | $3 Million vanish without a trace... |
| Civil Rights Era at St. John's Church | The Civil Rights Era at St. John's Church from "The Half Had Not Been Told Me: African Americans on Lafayette Square" cell phone tour. |
| "To the Depositors of the Freedmen's Savings and Trust Co." | Notice published in the New National Era from Frederick Douglass to depositors of the Freedman's Savings Bank upon the bank's failure. |
| "Monument of a Crime - Department of Justice Deserts a Fateful Building" | Transcription of an 1899 newspaper article about the failure of the Freedman's Bank of the demolition of the building. |
| "Dividends for Freedmen" | Transcription of an 1881 newspaper article detailing settlements to be paid to claimants after the Freedman's Bank failure. |
Enslaved People
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Weddings at St. John's Church | Selected entries from the St. John's Church marriage register. |
| Thomas Greene Bethune [Wiggins], 1849 -1908 | Photograph of blind piano prodigy Thomas Greene Bethune, the first African American artist to perform at the White House. |
| The White House | From slavery to sit-ins.... |
| Tayloe House | Compensated emancipation, only in DC... |
| President's House Carpenters' Roll from May 1795 | Payment record for carpenters,including five enslaved men, who constructed the President's House. |
| Paul Jennings | Paul Jennings |
| Members of Gadsby's Enslaved Household | A list of their names and ages. |
| Lafayette Square | An enslaved woman buys her freedom and changes the nation's history.... |
| Gadsby Slave Quarters at Decatur House ca.1937 | Photograph taken by Volkmar Wentzel in 1937 showing the H Street side of the slave quarters at Decatur House. |
| Frederick Douglass | Revered African American leader. |
| First page of a letter from Henry Clay to his agent in Washington, Philip Fendall, regarding Charlotte Dupuy's petition for freedom | Letter written written by Henry Clay to his agent in Washington, Philip Fendall, regarding Charlotte Dupuy's bid for freedom. |
| Ewell House | Buying, selling, and resisting. |
| Emancipation in the District of Columbia - List of the Petitions Filed | Government document showing claims paid for emancipated slaves to the former owners. |
| Elizabeth Keckly (1818-1907) | Elizabeth Keckly was born into slavery in 1818. She went on to purchase her own freedom and establish a successful dressmaking business. |
| Dolley Madison's House | A former slave shows charity toward an impoverished First Lady. |
| Decatur House Slave Quarters Floor Plans | Floorplans and architectural drawings of the Decatur House slave quarters. |
| Decatur House Slave Quarters | Men, women, and children from two families living together in 900 square feet... |
| Decatur House | Where Charlotte Dupuy takes a brave stand against slavery. |
| Daniel Webster's House | A slave plans a daring escape, but has a change of heart... |
Freedmen and Women
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Work Agreement between Daniel Webster and Paul Jennings | Paul Jennings' 1847 work agreement with Daniel Webster. |
| Weddings at St. John's Church | Selected entries from the St. John's Church marriage register. |
| Quilt Attributed to Elizabeth Keckly | Quilt said to be made by Elizabeth Keckly from scraps of Mary Todd Lincoln's dresses. |
| Paul Jennings' Letter | Reading of letter from Paul Jennings to Daniel Webster. |
| Paul Jennings | Paul Jennings |
| Frederick Douglass | Revered African American leader. |
| Elizabeth Keckly (1818-1907) | Elizabeth Keckly was born into slavery in 1818. She went on to purchase her own freedom and establish a successful dressmaking business. |
| Dolley Madison's House | A former slave shows charity toward an impoverished First Lady. |
| Daniel Webster's House | A slave plans a daring escape, but has a change of heart... |
| Cane given to Frederick Douglass, c. 1885 | Hand-carved cane with illustrations copied from Douglass’ third autobiography, "Life and Times of Frederick Douglass." |
| "To the Depositors of the Freedmen's Savings and Trust Co." | Notice published in the New National Era from Frederick Douglass to depositors of the Freedman's Savings Bank upon the bank's failure. |
| "Monument of a Crime - Department of Justice Deserts a Fateful Building" | Transcription of an 1899 newspaper article about the failure of the Freedman's Bank of the demolition of the building. |
| "Dividends for Freedmen" | Transcription of an 1881 newspaper article detailing settlements to be paid to claimants after the Freedman's Bank failure. |
Civil Rights Movement
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| White House Picketers, 1933 | Photograph of demonstrators in front of the White House protesting the jailing of the Scottsboro boys in 1933. |
| The White House | From slavery to sit-ins.... |
| President Lyndon B. Johnson's Daily Diary- Civil Rights Bill Signing | Scans of pages of President Johnson's daily diary from the day of the Civil Rights Bill signing. |
| Police Arrest Civil Rights Demonstrator | Photograph of a Civil Rights protestor being arrested in front of the White House in 1965. |
| Civil Rights Movement | The Civil Rights Movement and the 1964 Civil Rights Bill. |
| Civil Rights Leaders Meet with President Kennedy | Photograph of Civil Rights Leaders meeting with President Kennedy in the Oval Office, 1963. |
| Civil Rights Era at St. John's Church | The Civil Rights Era at St. John's Church from "The Half Had Not Been Told Me: African Americans on Lafayette Square" cell phone tour. |
| "Memorandum for the Files, Subject: Meeting of Negro Leaders with the President, June 23, 1958" | Memorandum for President Eisenhower's files detailing meeting of Civil Rights Leaders with the President. |
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