AME Church Grows from 20,000 to 400,000 Members During Reconstruction

Freed Black Southerners withdrew from white-controlled congregations and built thousands of independent churches, 1865-77. The AME Church grew from ~20,000 members in 1856 to over 400,000 by 1876. Black churches served as schools, political organizing centers, and mutual aid societies. Ministers like Henry McNeal Turner were among the most prominent Reconstruction-era political figures.