Guide to the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. African American Synods Collection

African Americans were members of Presbyterian churches prior to 1807, the date recognized as the beginning of organized African American Presbyterianism. The African American synods and presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. first developed as a result of the denomination's mission work among African Americans in the South. This work was carried out by the Board of Home Missions' Board of Missions for Freedmen. In 1923, with the reorganization of the Board of Home Missions into the Board of National Missions, two newly formed units -- the Unit of Schools and Hospitals and the Unit of Work with Colored People -- took over the work of the Freedmen's Board.

The first African American synod, the Synod of Atlantic, appeared in the General Assembly statistics for the first time in 1869. At its organization, the Synod of Atlantic was made up of the presbyteries of Catawba (the earliest of the all-Black governing bodies), Knox, and Atlantic. Its territory extended along the Atlantic coast from North Carolina to South Florida. Beginning in the 1880s, the women of the church organized presbyterial societies to support home and foreign mission work. These presbyterial societies came together to form the Synodical Society of Atlantic in 1885.

By 1886, the Synod of Atlantic comprised seven presbyteries: Atlantic, Catawba, East Florida, Fairfield, Hodge, Knox, McClelland, and South Florida, and it became necessary to form a new synod. In 1887, the Synod of Catawba was established to encompass churches in North Carolina and southern Virginia, organized into the presbyteries of Cape Fear, Catawba, Yadkin, and Southern Virginia.

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church, following its 1906 union with the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., demanded that the boundaries of the church's governing bodies be redrawn to ensure racial segregation. The synods of Canadian and East Tennessee were formed as a result of this restructuring. The presbyteries of the Synod of Canadian were White River, Rendall, and Kiamichi. Presbyteries of the Synod of East Tennessee were Birmingham, LeVere, and Rogerville. In 1936 the Synod of East Tennessee was renamed Blue Ridge.

In the 1950s, the General Assembly began taking steps to integrate synods and presbyteries. In 1957, the Synod of Canadian was merged with the primarily white Synod of Oklahoma, which covered some of the same territory. In 1958, the synods of Blue Ridge and Mid-South were merged. In 1966, the Synod of Atlantic was renamed the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, and with the restructuring of synods into larger regional bodies in 1972, it became part of the Synod of the Mid-South. The Synod of Catawba and the Synod of Chesapeake merged to form the new Synod of Piedmont. The presbyteries of the old Catawba Synod (Cape Fear, Catawba, Yadkin, and Southern Virginia) elected to form the Catawba Inter-presbytery Program Agency (referred to as the Catawba Unit), to maintain their historical relationship. In the restructuring following the reunion of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., the last of the all-Black governing bodies were dissolved. 

Researchers interested in a more detailed history of the African American synods may wish to consult the 1993 report of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), All-Black Governing Bodies: The History and Contributions of All-Black Governing Bodies.