The Episcopal congregation at St. Thomas, Red Bank, New Jersey can look back to the influential couple, Thomas Fortune and Carrie Smiley Fortune for its modern founding as a Historically Black church (HBC). Both were born enslaved in the south and settled in the north as adults. In the late 1800's and early 1900's Thomas became a journalist, editor of The New York Age, and biographer of Booker T. Washington. He was perhaps the most influential African-American writer of the time, and was even responsible for popularizing the term "Afro-American." He was an organizer of the National Afro-American League, a forerunner of such groups as the NAACP.
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| Thomas Fortune (Booker T. Washington, et al., Timothy Thomas Fortune 2, marked as public domain, more details on Wikimedia Commons). |
The couple eventually settled in Red Bank, New Jersey where Carrie was instrumental (starting in 1907) in convincing Bishop Scarborough of New Jersey to allow the use of the then defunct St. Thomas, Red Bank building for worship by an Episcopal African-American congregation, initiating the re-founding of the church. Carrie was also a founder of the National Urban League.
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| Carrie Smiley Fortune (courtesy Sag Harbor Historical Museum) |
Today Red Bank is home to the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center which houses the Carrie Smiley Fortune Research Library, an initiative strongly supported by St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Red Bank. The fourth anniversary of the Library was recently celebrated in May 2023.
Link to more about T. Thomas Fortune at blackpast.org.
Link to a brief description of the lives of the Fortunes from the Sag Harbor Historical Museum.
Link to the Carrie Fortune Research Library website and description.
