WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — The rebuilding of one of the nation’s oldest Black churches, whose congregants first gathered outdoors in secret before constructing a wooden meetinghouse in Virginia ...

Jun. 19—Ahead of Juneteenth, leaders of local, historic African American churches reflected on the importance of the church for the Black community in Decatur. Juneteenth commemorates the day ...

Colonial Williamsburg’s rebuilding of the church is an opportunity to tell Black history and resurrect the stories of those who originally built it. “Today is more than a groundbreaking.

On Juneteenth, a groundbreaking ceremony was held in Williamsburg to rebuild the African Baptist meeting house. The church was originally founded in 1776.

An anchor of such neighborhoods as Manchester, Blackwell, Oak Grove and Swansboro, the church — it traces its origins to 1821, making it one of the oldest Black congregations in Richmond — has ...