[1] Methodist Episcopal Church had segregated seating for Black and white congregants.

[1][3] Little Ebenezer became independent of its Mother church in the 1860s and installed in own board made up of African American trustees.

[3] In March 1864, the DC government opened a school for African American students of all ages within the church.

Perkins, a white woman from New England, returned North and raised the funds needed for the construction of a new school.

That same year, work began on the construction of a new brick structure to replace the church's earlier one.