By Kevin McNeir, Special to the AFRO
One hundred years ago a building for the Scotland African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church opened.
Now, members of the Second Century Project committee for the church on Seven Locks Road in Rockville, Maryland are celebrating a century of progress.
The church recently hosted Martin Luther King III, the son of America’s civil rights icon, who spoke in honor of the centennial. The event, featuring several national dignitaries including Bishop Brian R. Thompson and CBS sportscaster James Brown, was held on Oct. 14 in the Potomac area of Rockville. Scotland AME Zion Church first opened its doors on Sept. 14, 1924. The church was founded by formerly enslaved families in 1880.
The Second Century Project was launched in 2022 by Scotland AME Zion’s pastor, the Rev. Dr. Evalina Huggins, and other Montgomery County community leaders to raise funds and awareness for the church that was catastrophically flooded in 2019. Approximately $8.8 million has been raised toward an $11 million goal with a projected completion of late December of this year if fundraising goals can be met.
“I am deeply honored and excited to be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the remarkable Scotland AME Zion Church of Potomac as it works to achieve its dream of a repaired and larger space for its ministries and to celebrate its history,” King said. “The work of Scotland’s Second Century Project keeps my father’s own dream very much alive 60 years later.”
King also participated in a panel discussion, with the theme “From Selma to Scotland: Interfaith Cooperation, Then and Now,” that included Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, Amy Spitalnick CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and Dr. Erika Gault, director of Center for the Study of African American Religious Life and the Lilly Endowment Curator of African American Religious History at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
First published Nov. 6, 2024
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