Subject: Religionpage 2

Embry AME Church

At Embry AME Church Labor Day Picnic

First Baptist Church of College Park

On the 1963 Labor Day Embry AME Church picnic, there was the added attraction of pony rides in addition to the usual draws of homecooked food and good company.

Photo of the 1964 wedding of Pearl Lee Campbell to James Edwards III at Embry AME Church. When the church sanctuary was renovated in the 1980s, the Edwardses saved a stained glass window and hired an artist to use some of the glass to frame their marriage certificate to form a unique keepsake.

Communion stewardess board at Embry AME Church

Sunday on the Grounds of Embry AME Church

The Embry Youth Choir was organized in 1979 under the guidance of the pastor, Rev. Dessie L. Carter. Pictured are, from left to right, Talaya Boardley, Kimberly Gillens, Sharon Seldon, Linda Kim Lockerman, Monique Thomas, adviser Jean Gray Matthews, Rev. Carter, Lisa Gray, Kamille Gillens, Karon Seldon, Dean Matthews, and Paul Thomas. Members not shown are Lisa Carter, Barrett Matthews, Denise Penn, Nicole Thomas, and Pamela Tolson. (Courtesy of Embry A.M.E. Church.)

View of Sunday School Picnic

May 16, 1958 program held at First Baptist Church of College Park. Artists were community members and friends

Embry AME Church 72th anniversary

Pastor of Embry AME Church in the pulpit

Contains a cover page - memorial service hosted at Queen's Chapel United Methodist Church in Beltsville, on March 16, 2007. Also contains Campbell's obituary; the order of service; a prayer; and acknowledgements.

Youth of First Baptist Church; also shown is Pastor Covington. Bottom left is Miss Sandidge teaching a Sunday School Class and next to that an image of the crowning of Miss First Baptist Church, Gwen Williams. First Baptist Church of College Park crowned Gwen Williams Miss First Baptist during a fundraising pageant held at the church in the summer of 1970. Williams won by raising more money for the church than the other competitors. The Young People's Volunteer Choir provided music for the evening. (Courtesy of Thelma Lomax.)

Little New Zion Fire Baptized Holiness Church of the Americas building was erected as a Rosenwald school, Lakeland Elementary School. In 1950 when high school classes in Lakeland were transferred to Fairmont Heights High the younger grades moved from this building to the old high school on 54th Avenue.

Pastor of Embry AME Church speaks during Heritage Weekend Sunday service at Washington Brazilian SDA Church the site of Lakeland High School

At First Baptist Church of College Park

Embry AME Church was founded in 1903 in the home of Samuel and Georgianna Stewart. The congregation built a chapel in 1905 in a low-lying section of the community. In 1918, the building was moved to a site on Lakeland Road. In 1920, a new church on the same location replaced the chapel. Over time, a parish hall and study were added. The building is shown here around 1965. (Courtesy of Thelma Lomax)

Site of reunion event for Lakeland High School class of 1950 in Wildwood NJ

In First Baptist Church of College Park

Embry stewardess board. they helped to run church. The church also had a group called communion stewardess board. Their function was to prepare for and assist in the communion service.

Heritage Weekend Sunday with service on Lakeland Road. Standing is Rev. Edna Jenkins of Embry AME Church. Seated far left is Rev. David Barrozo pastor of Washington Brazilian SDA Church (Lakeland High School site)

Sunday School picnics were a summer highlight for Lakelanders. Everyone would pack a lunch and meet on the third Saturday in July at an amusement park or beach for a day of fun in the sun. The community’s two churches regularly came together for the outing. In 1962, the Embry A. M. E. Sunday School outing took place at Carr’s Beach in Annapolis, Maryland. From left to right are John Webster; Mary Weems Braxton; and Wilmer, Delphine, and Maxine Gross. (Courtesy of the Gross family.)

An oral history interview conducted with Jean Ann Matthews during Lakeland Heritage Weekend 2007. Mrs. Jean Ann Gray Matthews, eldest of 13 children, was born in the Lakeland Community in her grandmother's home on December 19, 1934, to Clarence and Christine Gray. In 1954, she married Carroll Matthews in Lakeland at 48th Avenue, which was where her parents resided. From this union, they became the parents of two daughters, Carroll and Avis and two sons, Barrett and Jean. One of the most significant influences that remains in Mrs. Matthews' life is her religious involvement, and she has been a member of the Embry AME Church of Lakeland since a child; she readily admits that these religious teachings, along with her strong familial bond, have instilled in her a positive attitude and a major source of strength. Mrs. Matthews is grateful for the significant role her parents and other religious leaders, such as pastors and Sunday school teachers, played in her upbringing. Besides her church involvement, Mrs. Matthews considers her children attending college as another proud accomplishment. When asked about the most significant change in Lakeland, Mrs. Matthews says it was urban renewal since it forced many people to leave the community; however, she did not have to leave. When asked how she would like to be remembered, Mrs. Matthews notes: "I gave the best to the community proud to have been born and raised in Lakeland."

A group pose in the sanctuary of Embry AME Church in front of a money tree. First row left to right unknown, unknown, unknown, Harry Braxton, Sr., Mary Weems Braxton, Dessie Randall Thomas Rear left to right unknown, unknown, Eliza Gray, unknown

Basketball team sponsored by Embry AME Church with their coaches Earl Hawkins rear left in white shirt, Dwight Brooks right in white shirt and in front of him Reginald Gaskins

Front from left to right are Dora Robinson, Ollie Mason, Shirley Randall Anderson, Vera Matthews Briscoe, Christine Gray Rear left to right are James Clemons, Mr. Johnson, Hattie Adams Williams, Lucille Giles Sharps, George Brooks, Sr, Agnes Gross, James Edwards II, Rev. Robert H. Baddy.

Left Ethel Hicks Claiborne right Kidd Claiborne. At First Baptist Church of College Park

In 1956, Rev. Preston Britton and members of Embry AME Church were the Annual Ushers Day guests of Macedonia United Methodist Church in Odenton, MD. Britton gave the sermon, and Embry's Youth choir performed under the direction of Dessie Randall Thomas.

Sunday School picnics were a summer highlight for Lakelanders. Everyone would pack a lunch and meet on the third Saturday in July at an amusement park or beach for a day of fun in the sun. The community’s two churches regularly came together for the outing. In 1962, the Embry A. M. E. Sunday School outing took place at Carr’s Beach in Annapolis, Maryland. From left to right are John Webster; Mary Weems Braxton; and Wilmer, Delphine, and Maxine Gross. (Courtesy of the Gross family.)

City of College Park 25th Anniversary celebration

The Embry Youth Choir was organized in 1979 under the guidance of the pastor, Rev. Dessie L. Carter. Pictured are, from left to right, Talaya Boardley, Kimberly Gillens, Sharon Seldon, Linda Kim Lockerman, Monique Thomas, adviser Jean Gray Matthews, Reverend Carter, Lisa Gray, Kamille Gillens, Karon Seldon, Dean Matthews, and Paul Thomas. Members not shown are Lisa Carter, Barrett Matthews, Denise Penn, Nicole Thomas, and Pamela Tolson.

At Embry AME Church

Due to the need for major renovations, Rev. Milton A. Covington and the congregation of the First Baptist Church decided to erect a new edifice. In 1959, the old church was demolished. Services were held at Lakeland Hall while the new church was erected by Pastor Covington, a mason; James Claiborne; Harold Pitts; and other dedicated parishioners. Members marched to their new church when it was completed in September 1962.

A service of Dent Chapel AME Church at Embry AME Church. The Dent congregation held services at Embry when flooding made their building unusable.

Junior Usher Board, Youth group at Embry (Source: master photo log.xls)

Located at 5018 Lakeland Rd

Built in 1926 as Lakeland Elementary School, this building in 1958 became home to Little New Zion Fire-Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas. A portion of the building contained an apartment, where the family of James and Anna Smith lived for years. Both the family and congregation were displaced with the coming of urban renewal. The congregation, now Greater New Zion Fire-Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas, is located in West Lanham, Maryland.

Rev. J.J. Jones, pastor at First Baptist Church of College Park

The Reverend Jessie Williams and the Embry Choir gathered for this photograph on April 27, 1948. Members of the choir are, from left to right, Mary Daisy Briscoe, Mattie Johnson, Evelyn Tyner, Agnes Gross, Willa Mae Smith, James Edwards Jr., Dora Robinson, Annabelle Stroud, Leon Robinson, Amy Potts, Ellen Briscoe, Emma Harrison, Maggie Mack, Ila Mason, and Hazel Thomas.