[1][2] There was an initial attempt to operate the African Academy beginning in 1797, when a group of black Methodists received support from the Maryland Society for the Abolition of Slavery,[3] specifically involving Elisha Tyson and his brother Jesse Tyson.
[3] The meetinghouse congregation was affiliated with the Lovely Lane Meeting House until 1802.
[2][4] Having acquired sufficient funds, the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Academy were established on Sharp Street in 1802[3] by the Colored Methodist Society, at which time the congregation separated from the Lovely Lane Meeting House.
[4] Daniel Coker, a founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church,[2] was also the lead teacher of the congregation until 1817.
A Gothic style church, named the Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church and Community House, was built on Dolphin and Etting Streets in 1898.