491 Broad Street
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Last updated on June 13, 2024
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Directions from Roberta Webb's Home to site 15:
The Mennonite Church opposed the slave trade and slave labor; however, after the Civil War and emancipation, the mixing of races in the church was a decade-long issue that affected the African American community of Harrisonburg. In the 1930s, an Eastern Mennonite School student, Thelma McConnell, started visiting the black neighborhood of Newtown, and the Young People’s Christian Association established prayer meetings in the homes of Black residents. The Virginia Mennonite Conference granted the Association funding to rent a building for the mission church services on East Gay Street. White churchgoers held service on Sunday morning, and Black churchgoers held a separate service in the afternoon. In 1938, the mission was divided into two buildings, and the black mission was at risk of being closed. In 1942, the Conference established the Broad Street Mission in Newtown, and a year later, Roberta Webb became the first local Black resident to become Mennonite. However, racial tension still arose within the church due to the idea of separation of races.
Over the years, the church broke out into separate branches in Harrisonburg. Services continued to be held on Broad Street and eventually integrated. Recently, the church members have dwindled, and meetings are held in homes. In 2018, Broad Street Mennonite Church members donated the church building to a local nonprofit, Northeast Neighborhood Association. The space will be used for public use and church services on Sundays. The Historic Broad Street Mennonite Church will be remembered as the first church to allow Black people to take communion in Harrisonburg. |
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