Thomas Paul Co-Founds Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City

Thomas Paul Sr., a free Black minister from New Hampshire, co-founded the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City on July 5, 1808, after a group of Black and Ethiopian merchants objected to segregated seating in the First Baptist Church. It is one of the oldest Black Baptist churches in the United States and later became famous under Adam Clayton Powell Sr. and Jr.