AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — It’s the first and oldest black church in Amarillo.
“Mount Zion originally was erected little little structure at the second and Jackson,” said Alphonso Vaugh, a former Potter County Commissioner and a member of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church growing up.
The church was a centerpiece of the black experience in Amarillo, at some of the most crucial times in the area and the nation.
“The black church was the assembly of everything that went on in the community, from the cradle to the grave, because it took care of everything. Not only the nursery for early childhood, but for actually educating our children, because we didn’t, who weren’t able to go to any official schools that are within the districts. So the church was very mindful of that, and also it was very an advocate for civil rights,” Vaughan explained.
Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church originally started in 1910 and was incorporated in 1916. Many of the earliest members of the church actually had service and Bible Study at some members’ homes.