Church Pew from Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church
date: label: date made
content: 1890s
name: label: Associated Name
content: Robeson, Paul
notes: label: Description
content: Handcrafted church pew from the Witherspoon Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey. The pew is made from wood painted brown and white, with paneled sides, rounded top, and curved side pieces. A book rack and candle holders are screwed to the back, for use of those sitting in a pew positioned behind.
label: Description
content: Founded in 1839, Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church was among the earliest African American Presbyterian churches. With the 1801 appointment of the free African American John Chavis (1763-1838) as a "missionary to his own people" by the Presbyterian Church in the USA, the denomination spread among enslaved and free Black populations in the mid-Atlantic and the Carolinas. Following the establishment of churches in New York and Philadelphia, Witherspoon Street was the first African American Presbyterian Church in New Jersey.
label: Description
content: Through the latter years of the nineteenth century, Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church was led by Pastor William Drew Robeson (1844-1918) who had been born into slavery in North Carolina and escaped to Pennsylvania as a teenager. After completing his studies for the ministry, he made the Witherspoon Street church known for its engagement in the cause for securing African American rights. Under pressure from members of other Princeton churches who were made uneasy by Robeson's activism, he was removed from his pulpit in 1901. Robeson and his congregation were forerunners of the vital involvement by Black churches in the civil rights movement as it grew in the decades that followed.
label: Description
content: Three years before his departure, Rev. Robeson's son Paul was born in the parsonage neighboring the church. Paul Robeson (1898-1976) became an influential and world-renowned singer, actor, professional football player, and political activist. A cultural icon through much of the twentieth century, he began his life in the community this pew represents.
topic: label: Subject
content: Church
label: Subject
content: Presbyterian
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Religion
label: See more items in
content: Religion
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1999.0127.01
label: accession number
content: 1999.0172
label: catalog number
content: 1999.0172.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Church Pew
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 36 cm x 55 cm x 18 cm; 14 3/16 in x 21 5/8 in x 7 1/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 49 in x 64 in x 27 in; 124.46 cm x 162.56 cm x 68.58 cm