African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Incorporated in New York

The AMEZ Church, founded by James Varick and Christopher Rush among others, was formally incorporated in New York in 1820 after years of meetings beginning in 1796. Varick was elected the first superintendent (bishop) in 1822. The church grew to become a major institutional anchor for Black New Yorkers and would shelter abolitionists Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Sojourner Truth among its members.