HARRISBURG — Lenwood Sloan looked out at the crowd at the Harrisburg Transportation Center and said, “Friends, we are standing on history today.”
The commanding brick, block-long building sits on the original location of Bethel Village A.M.E. Church. The church later moved to Short Street, and, there, black leaders discussed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Sloan, co-chairman of the Friends of the Bethel Trail, joined local leaders to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the forum of black leaders discussing the Emancipation Proclamation.
In addition, the event afforded the perfect opportunity to unveil the Bethel Trail — the “spine in an invisible body,” the development of the black community in Harrisburg, Sloan said.
The proclamation President Abraham Lincoln signed Jan. 1, 1863 freed the slaves in the Confederate states.
Local black leaders Jan. 15, 1863 discussed and debated the document at Bethel Village A.M.E. Church’s former location on Short Street.
The church originally was built in 1835 at the site of the transportation center at 415 Market St., said the Rev. Martin D. Odom, pastor of the church.
The black leaders ultimately passed a resolution endorsing the Emancipation Proclamation, said Odom. Two years later, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery.
“This is significant because it happened at a time when many blacks were ambivalent as to whether or not to participate in the Civil War,” Odom said, regarding the proclamation.
“And as a result of that meeting, many blacks in this Harrisburg area began to sign up for the Union Army and to fight in the Civil War.”
People increasingly realize the Emancipation Proclamation is “one of the pivotal statements of the Civil War,” Michael Barton, professor in American Studies at Penn State Harrisburg, said.
“It’s clear that Harrisburgers, black and white, greet the proclamation quite noticeably,” Barton said. “… It’s a felt event in the city of Harrisburg.”
Before a small group in period dress read the 150-year-old resolution, Odom kicked off the start of the Bethel Trail, named after the Bethel Village A.M.E. Church, 1721 N. Fifth St.
The trail follows and marks the locations where the church stood as it was moved at various times to different areas throughout the city as the state capitol complex expanded, said Odom.
The trail with five markers will begin at the Harrisburg Transportation Center and end at the church’s current location, Odom said.
The Friends of the Bethel Trail are going to be putting up the markers starting March 1.
“It was important for us to capture this history before it completely vanishes,” Sloan said.
Mock-ups of the panels for the Bethel Trail are posted at the transportation center. They will remain up for pubic comment until Feb. 28, Sloan said.