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Date of Graduation

5-2025

Description

On May 13, 1899, an unknown hand began a ledger. The heading for that page began, "Yeartley Conference Record Book of Pilgrim Chapel A.M.E. Church." The remainder of the page is blank. The following entry dates to April 18, 1902, and details collections in a different hand. These pages are from the Pilgrim Chapel AME Church in Eureka Springs and Harrison. From 1899 to 1911, this church served as the center of the African-American community in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, providing unwavering support to its members through community and worship. In time, they would buy land and build a church. The church would house a school. They would pay their pastor a stipend and eventually build a parsonage. The African-American community in Eureka Springs would disappate before the 1920s. This ledger in the University of Arkansas Special Collections provides insight into a time of unity and growth for a group of former enslaved people and their children. My presentation will share insights about the church and the ledger, part of ongoing research into this community and its members, and the reasons for the community’s abandonment.

Interestingly, local historians, including myself, considered this ledger lost. I spent hours looking for it in places documented in a 1985 local history book. I have been working on transcribing the ledger to glean information about the church and its members. This work aims to inform about Eureka Springs’ history and to spotlight a time in the history of former enslaved people. Because of natural disasters like fires and flooding, as well as the lack of accurate reporting for African Americans during this time, Eureka Springs newspaper archives are not available. Studying sources like photographs and the ledger has become essential to this work.

Publication Date

2025

Document Type

Book

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Art

Advisor/Mentor

Turner, Aaron

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities

Keywords

Arts & Humanities

PILGRIMS ON THE UPWARD WAY: The African American Community in Eureka Springs and The Church at Its Heart

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