Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Final Stop Was This New Jersey Church

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. visited New Jersey just one week before his assassination, delivering what would become one of his final speeches at Metropolitan AME Zion Church. The visit remains a significant moment in the state’s civil rights.

Dr. King had longstanding connections to the state of New Jersey, including multiple visits to Jersey City during the Civil Rights Movement.

For Dr. King’s second visit in Jersey City on March 27, 1968, the civil rights leader spoke of support for his “Poor People’s Campaign,” which demanded economic and human rights for poor people regardless of background. The campaign called for fair wages, housing, and access to basic necessities. This resulted in the Poor People’s March on Washington following King’s assassination. 

Dr. Andrew Wesley Mapp, who was the Pastor of the Metropolitan AME Zion Church at the time, was the host pastor for the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance during Dr. King’s visit. Most of the Black clergy of Jersey City were also present. 

“When he came here, there was so much tension between the situation in Vietnam to housing, jobs, the treatment of minorities, hangings, and many of the things he faced during his leadership,” says Reverend Eli D. Smith of the AME Zion Church. “The very room he stood in was filled with so much excitement and also uneasiness from all of that tension.” 

Reverend Smith, who has served as Pastor of the Church for the past seven years, recalled learning about how not just members of the church, but those who had an interest in the issues that King was addressing, were there in attendance during his visit in 1968. But the Pastor also had to wonder how much weight rested on the shoulders of the civil rights activist. 

“As a person, minister, and leader he had many people who also had issues with him,” says Reverend Smith. “That night in this church, he was at that moment, I can almost imagine, tired from having to carry a message and very possibly from knowing some of the things he was facing. But the people who were here witnessing it, they were spellbound. He was a tremendous speaker who just had a way of touching people’s hearts.” 

The Church seats up to 2,500 people, all of which were filled during the event, including the church’s upper balcony. But that didn’t stop visitors from being jam-packed outside to get a glimpse of King and hear his message. 

Former Jersey City Mayor, as well as Jersey City’s first African American Mayor, Glenn Cunningham, was a police officer at the time and worked security for the visit as his team periodically let in those outside to catch some of King’s speech. 

King’s first visit to Jersey City took place in 1965, where he received an honorary Doctor of Law from St. Peter’s College and delivered an address called “The American Dream.” 

The Metropolitan AME Zion Church held its service honoring Dr. Martin Luther King on Sunday, Jan. 18. The Church will also celebrate its 180th anniversary on Sunday, Jan. 25.