After the courts ruled against slavery in the Commonwealth in 1783, black men and women intensified their efforts to establish a vibrant community, to educate themselves, to gain an economic foothold in the fledgling nation, and to free those still held in bondage. The church played a central role in all of these endeavors.

In seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Massachusetts, African American worshippers were generally relegated to seats in the church balcony. On occasion, when blacks refused to sit in these segregated "Negro pews," white deacons forcibly removed them. Some African Americans preferred to worship at home, rather than endure this kind of discrimination.

Thomas Paul emerged as the first spiritual leader of Boston's black community. He was ordained a Baptist minister in May of 1805. Four months later, he and 20 of his followers established the African Baptist Church. By December of the following year, they had built the African Meeting House. Both whites and blacks contributed money; black workers provided almost all the labor.