New historical marker unveiled at Raleigh's St. Paul A.M.E. Church: 'We had to right that wrong'

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A long-overdue acknowledgment was unveiled outside the historic St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal church downtown. The original marker was erected in 2004. "It reads that delegates met September 29th - October 3rd in 1865, one block north. They resolved to seek equal rights for the state's freed blacks."

The new marker acknowledges that those freedmen met for the first Freedmen's Convention at St. Paul in 1865 and 1866.

"It didn't tell our story and how we were connected to the Freedmen's Convention. So, we had to right that wrong," St. Paul. A.M.E. member Florence Avery.

Avery has been a member of the church for 40 years. She was behind the effort three years ago to get the ball rolling on moving the original marker and adding the church's name to it.

"In the process, I learned that when they put that marker up, they never contacted the church. The church didn't have a say. I'm sure that's why St. Paul's name was not on that marker," she said.

In an effort to ensure that history would live on, Avery contacted the North Carolina Highway Historical Marker program.

"We were able to take the information that Florence Avery provided to our office and take it to the committee of professors to re-evaluate the marker and see if we could make it more historically accurate," said Leslie Leonard with the North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program.

Abraham Galloway had escaped slavery and became a Union Army spy called the first Freedmen's Convention in the state to order in 1865. With a dream for equality, African Americans gathered to organize for the right to vote and testify in court, among other civil rights.

"We need to know the real history. It's not a woke history. It's the real history. The Bible says you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free," said Rev. Dr Larry McDonald Sr.

He said the church played a major role in advancing civil rights for African Americans over the years. It's worked alongside Edenton Street United Methodist Church to make it happen.

"To actually see that marker going up lets me know the people who lived before me didn't live in vain," he said.

160 years to the day, this unveiling ceremony is symbolic, as church members called it a reminder to never tell any half-truths.

"Keep working because the work is not done. It is never done for us," said Avery.