A Geography of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

Southeastern Geographer Vol. 26, No. 1, May 1986, pp. 1-11 A GEOGRAPHY OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION CHURCH Charles Heatwole This paper briefly describes and analyzes the geography of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZC), one of the nation's largest black denominations. The geographical literature on American religious groups is substantial, but provides little information about the black churches. Indeed, save for one article on the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, published research is virtually nil—at least in the major journals. (I) This inattention is explained largely by the absence of membership statistics. Generally, black denominations rarely conduct detailed censuses due to a lack of bureaucratic or financial resources needed to gather, collate and publish membership data. Some groups periodically publish state-level summaries, but data for smaller levels of areal aggregation are uncommon. In 1980, however, a handful of black church groups made a special (and successful) effort to generate county-level membership data in order to be included in a census of American denominations. (2) The AMEZC was the largest of these groups. Due to the historical geography of black Americans, the AMEZC and a number of other black churches have a strong spatial association with the Southeast. But geographical perspectives on that church-region relationship have been limited heretofore, largely because of the lack of data on black-church membership. Now, however, availability of county-level data makes it possible to examine the distribution of some black churches with considerable precision. Investigation of the AMEZC adds, therefore, to an understanding of the geography of religion and the denominational geography of the Southeast. OVERVIEW. In 1980 an estimated 1,092,723 people were affiliated with the AMEZC. The denomination counted 1,801 congregations spread throughout 406 counties in 37 states plus the District of Columbia . (3) In that year there were twenty states in which at least Dr. Heatwole is Professor of Geography at Hunter College of the City University of New York, NY 10021. Southeastern Geographer 10,000 members resided (Table 1). North Carolina had the largest AMEZC population while New York and Alabama ranked second and third respectively. Together, these three states accounted for more than 57 percent of all adherents. Thereafter, state totals tapered off dramatically . Save for California, the "top 20" were dominated by states in the South, the Northeast, and adjacent portions of the Midwest. A map of AMEZC membership reveals a pattern that is both clustered and dispersed (Fig. 1). As suggested by the table, major clusters coincide with North Carolina, Alabama, and the northeastern seaboard (New York, particularly). Minor clusters are evident in the Lower Mississippi Valley, Appalachia and the central valley of California. Elsewhere , congregations are found in widely separated counties which, more often than not, are highly urbanized. A membership that is both clustered and dispersed is not unique TABLE 1 AMEZ CHURCH MEMBERSHIP BY STATE, 1980 MembershipPercent Rank State(000)of total 1 North Carolina311.02S.4 2 New York174.015.9 3 Alabama139.712.8 4 South Carolina55.35.1 5 Michigan46.24.2 6 New fersev40.43.7 7 Dist. of Columbia39.23.6 8 Ohio34.93.2 9 Virginia29.82.7 10Pcnnsvlvania27.22.5 11Indiana23.32.1 12Tennessee21.72.0 13Connecticut21.52.0 14Illinois18.41.7 15Kentuckv18.01.6 16California14.61.3 17Mississippi12.01.1 18Massachusetts10.61.0 19Man-land10.41.0 20Louisiana10.30.9 All Others34.23.1 Total1,092.7100.0 Source: Quinn ct til., footnote 2. W a A.M.E.Z. CHURCH MEMBERS BY COUNTY, 1980 ? NONE HI 1-399¦ 400-899 900-2,999 3,000- < O r X X