Just three miles from the mouth of the Kanawha River in what is now West Virginia, the John Gee Black Historical Center in Gallipolis, Ohio, preserves the legacy of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church—a congregation established by free African Americans circa 1818. Located in the heart of Gallipolis’ historic Black neighborhood, Bethel A.M.E. Church became the first stop on an Underground Railroad route that moved freedom seekers north from the Kanawha Valley, a region where enslaved people often escaped via the river before crossing into Ohio.
Bethel A.M.E. was not only a house of worship but also a sanctuary of resistance. Church members guided freedom seekers to safety in cooperation with an interracial regional network that extended through Gallia, Meigs, and Athens counties. One such freedom seeker was Ina Mason, born enslaved in 1810, who later testified: “I crossed the river at Gallipolis and landed in Athens County.” Her story, relayed to Rev. Jacob Cummings and forwarded to Underground Railroad historian Wilbur Siebert, adds a rare personal testimony to the well-documented history of Underground Railroad activity rooted in Gallipolis’ Black community.
The Minutes of a “ Convention of the Colored Citizens of Gallia County , Ohio ” were printed in Frederick Douglass ’ Paper (1 Jan uary 1852). They “ r esolved, that we will resist the execution of the Fugitive Slave Bill upon us or our children by all the means that God has given us.” Image courtesy the Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative (2024).
The church’s role intensified following the passage of the 1850 Federal Fugitive Slave Act, which empowered federal authorities to capture and return escaped slaves even in free states. In response, Bethel A.M.E. Church hosted a historic Colored Convention on October 3, 1851. Thirty-four Black delegates gathered to organize resistance, many of them now recognized as Underground Railroad conductors, including Howell and Martha James, William P. Ellison, Jacob Stewart, Benjamin Holly, and Willis Battles (the son-in-law of John and Barbara Gee, founders of the Bethel church). The convention boldly declared: “We will resist the execution of the Fugitive Slave Bill upon us or our children by all the means that God has given us. …. Come imprisonment, come fines, come what will, we will not aid in the return of any fugitive slave.”
The beginnings of Bethel date back to meetings held in the home of John and Barbara Gee beginning around 1818. Worship soon moved to a local schoolhouse located on Pine Street between Second and Third Streets, where circuit riders of the A.M.E. held services every four weeks. By 1822, the congregation built its first structure across the street, a modest house-sized building measuring approximately 38 by 40 feet. This first church, which stood on the current site at 48 Pine Street until 1866, is believed to have housed the bulk of the congregation’s Underground Railroad activity during the 1840s and 1850s.
The church’s founders—including John Gee, Barbara Stowers Gee, William and Eliza Napper, Leah Stewart, Nancy Bell, Mathilda Warren, Lorain Givens, and John Givens—had long envisioned a place where Black Gallipolis residents could worship freely and build community. Key contributors to the original church’s construction included Samuel Humphrey, who provided lumber; Henry Bell and Thomas Bell who donated plaster and their plastering expertise. Others assisting were Mrs. Alexander Woodly, John Black, George Toney, and Jessie Davine. Thomas Scott and Matilda Warren gave money and aid.
James Madison Be ll was born in Gallipolis, Ohio in 1826 and lived there until age 17 in 1843 , when he moved to Cincinnati . He became a famous poet who wrote and lectured against slavery . He helped John Brown plan his raid on Harper ’ s Ferry and was active with the Undergro und Railroad in Cincinnati and Chatham, Ontario, where he served on the city ’ s Vigilance Committee, aiding freedom seekers arriving in Canada. Image courtesy Toledo – Lucas County Public Library (1901).
In the 1830s, Bethel supported a school for African American children, which was taught by Elisha Barnes. Among the pupils was Gallipolis native James Madison Bell, born in 1826, who was most likely a close relative of Bethel founder Nancy Bell and the skilled plasterers Henry and Thomas Bell. As a young man, James Madison Bell relocated to Cincinnati where he became a prominent Underground Railroad activist, eventually moving to Chatham, Canada, where he became a close ally of John Brown in the lead-up to the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry. Bell became a nationally recognized poet and abolitionist speaker. His lifelong devotion to the A.M.E. Church, including work with Bishop Benjamin Arnett, was rooted in the values first nurtured by the Bethel congregation.
By the Civil War, Bethel A.M.E. had become a hub of both spiritual and civic life. The church building was used as a Union Army field hospital and later as a refuge for formerly enslaved people arriving from western Virginia. In 1866, church member Phebe Smith founded the Mutual Aid Society to support these arrivals and ensure they received proper care and burial.
In 1865, co-founder John Gee—by then a prosperous landowner, builder, and carpenter—donated land for a new church structure. Completed and dedicated by 1868, the new building continued the congregation’s work on the same grounds. Two decades later, in 1888, the church was renamed John Gee A.M.E. Chapel in honor of its founder. That same year, it hosted the national A.M.E. Church conference, drawing dignitaries such as Bishop Daniel A. Payne, Bishop Benjamin Arnett, and Bishop Benjamin Lee. The event affirmed Gallipolis’ place in the broader African Methodist Episcopal movement and cemented the congregation’s legacy as a center of faith and leadership in the Civil Rights movement.
After nearly two centuries of service, the congregation held its final service in 1997. The following year, the building was reborn as the John Gee Black Historical Center—a nonprofit museum and cultural site dedicated to preserving the stories of Gallipolis’ African American past. In 2025, it was officially listed in the National Park Service’s Network to Freedom, affirming its national significance as a site of Underground Railroad activity.
Today, the John Gee Black Historical Center continues to educate the public about the power of faith, resistance, and community. Its story—rooted in the struggle for freedom and justice—remains an important chapter in the history of the Appalachian region and the larger nation.
