Mother Liberty CME Church

Two former slaves gave the denomination its first leaders. On December 21, 1870, William Miles and Richard Vanderhorst were ordained bishops at the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, General Conference in Memphis, and the Black members announced a church of their own. The new Colored Methodist Episcopal body leaned on its Methodist heritage while serving a membership drawn almost entirely from former slaves. Nashville's Capers Memorial, dating to 1866, is usually counted Tennessee's earliest recognized CME church, and about forty Black Methodists from West Tennessee joined its members in the break.

What the plaque says

Mother Liberty CME Church On December 15, 1870, in Jackson, the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church was organized by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. The first official CME Church, "Mother Liberty," which stood one block west, was razed by fire in the late 1800's. In 1893 the church was relocated to its present site. In 1954 the Colored Methodist Church became the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park — 11 mi
  The largest group of Middle Woodland mounds in the United States, about two thousand years old, with the second tallest mound in the country, a museum and paved trails.
• Tina Turner Museum at Flagg Grove School — 25 mi
  The one-room Black school Tina Turner attended in Nutbush, moved to Brownsville in 2012 and opened as a museum in 2014 beside Sleepy John Estes's house.

More markers nearby

• Mabel Louise "Big Maybelle" Smith — steps away
• Monroe Dunaway Anderson / Anderson, Clayton & Company — 0.3 mi
• 61st US Colored Infantry Regiment — 0.3 mi
• Lambuth College — 1.1 mi