Editor’s note: To celebrate Black History Month, the Journal & Courier is featuring daily briefs about prominent Black community members in Tippecanoe County.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — In 1866, a year after the end of the Civil War, the Lafayette African Methodist Episcopal congregation considered digging a basement under their deteriorating Cincinnati Street Church because the congregation wanted to construct a Sabbath and day school. The Indiana legislature did not mandate that school trustees organize schools for Black children.

But in the summer the congregation purchased the church, the parsonage and the school buildings of the St. James Lutheran Church on Ferry Street. Although this purchase incurred a large debt, the congregation committed to providing educational, cultural and political opportunities for its members.

Eventually, the Lafayette school trustees approved a public school at the African Methodist Episcopal Church. When the school first opened in September 1869, it was recorded that 49 students enrolled. A night school was also opened to accommodate day workers. The school continued at the African Methodist Episcopal site until 1880 when the school moved to the North End of Lafayette.

One of the largest celebrations in Indiana for the extension of Black suffrage began at the steps of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. On April 23, 1870, Civil War veteran, Thomas Brown, led a parade of dignitaries and supporters through the streets of Lafayette. Gov. Conrad Baker of Indiana, and the Rev. J.M. Williams of Indianapolis, formerly enslaved, spoke on the recent accomplishments of African Americans. A supper and festival at the African Methodist Episcopal Church concluded the activities.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette’s African Methodist Episcopal Church role after Civil War