United Order of Tents

The United Order of Tents is an organization for African-American churchwomen founded in Norfolk, Virginia,[1] in 1867 by Annetta M. Lane (c. 1838-1908)[2] and Harriet R.

[5] The United Order of Tents works to care for the sick and the elderly, to help those in need and to bury the dead.

[6] Annetta M. Lane, an enslaved woman, who was also a nurse on the plantation she worked on, and Harriet R. Taylor founded the organization in Virginia in 1867 with help from two abolitionists, Joliffe Union and Joshua R.

[14] Annetta Lane was instrumental in leading and creating the Southern District for the United Order of Tents.

Under Bonney, membership in the United Order of Tents expanded to new states and more than tripled.

[3] The group's headquarters building at 87 MacDonough Street was originally built in 1863 for a brewer named William A. Parker, then owned by James McMahon, the president of Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank.