[citation needed] At the close of the Civil War, the church spread throughout the former Confederacy, and the Bethel Tabernacle allied with the denomination, becoming Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

[citation needed] Morris Brown College held its first classes in the church in 1881 before moving to its first campus.

In 1911, President William Howard Taft spoke in the church, as did Nelson Mandela in 1990.

[1] During the 1960s, the church served as the annual meeting place for the Atlanta Negro Voters League.

[2] The morality play Heaven Bound was written by attendees and is performed annually at the church.