Records of the African American constituency group of the (old) Mennonite Church. Emerging from the Minority Ministries Council, the African American Mennonite Association began its orginizational life as the Black Council or Black Caucus.  In the early 1980s the name was changed to the African American Mennonite Association (AAMA).  The AAMA strove to support black and racially integrated congregations in the (old) Mennonite Church through annual assemblies and programming, leadership training, educational opportunites, and congregational economic development.

Records are divided into the following series:

(1) Founding and Governing Documents

(2) Assemblies and Events

(3) Dockets and Minutes

(4) Photographs

(5) Educational Program Records

(6) Correspondence and Subject Files

(7) Sound Recordings

Offical and unofficial records of an African American Mennonite church begun by James and Rowena Lark as a mission project in the Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis, Missouri.  Records are divided into several series:

(1) Pastor Hubert Schwartzentruber Files, 1956-1972 (2) Church Bulletins, 1957-1971 (3) Photographs,1957-2008 (4) Miscellaneous, 1955-2008

The collection includes clippings and articles related to the arson and attempted murder directed against Curtis E. Burrell Jr. who served as the pastor of the Woodlawn Mennonite Church in Chicago.

Contains a collection of newspaper articles that Word published between 1995 and 2009. Most articles include typed drafts and clippings of the published version. Also includes an obituary, an informal index of publications, and notes from an address delivered for an Alumni Scholar Forum at Goshen College in 1999.

The newspaper articles cover a variety of topics , including commentaries on current events, annual holidays (especially Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Kwanzaa), activities of local organizations, and important people and events in Black history. They provide a valuable window into Word's worldview, the issues she cared about, her interest in history, and her experiences of racism as a Black Mennonite woman.

Two Christmas letters written to friends and family describing Carper's work with the African American community through West Side Christian Parish in Chicago.

The Larks' personal papers consist primarily of documentation from the churches they led in African American and urban communities, including Bethel Mennonite Church in Chicago.  Materials include church bulletins, congregational records, correspondence,  and photographs.

Personal papers of an African American Mennonite minister who worked to combat racism in the (old) Mennonite Church and the Mennonite Church USA.  Powell served as executive secretary of the Minority Ministries Council from 1969 to 1974.  He left the church in 1974 vowing never to return.  After ministering in several other denominations, he decided to return to the Mennonite Church as the director of evangelism and church development in the Mennonite Board of Missions.

His personal papers primarily document his involvement with AFRAM (African Afro-Americas Inter-Mennonite Unity Conference), a "Mini-World Conference" that focused on "world-wide Black concerns."  Other materials in his papers include documents pertaining to his work as executive secretary of the Minority Ministries Council, his involvement in the Cross Cultural Youth Convention and the Soul and Spirit Interracial Couples Retreat.  Researchers will also find correspondence and essays by Powell.

This collection is divided into two series:  (1) Research Files, 1950-1982, and (2) James and Rowena Lark Materials, 1949-2007.

Personal papers of a Mennonite pastor and church planter who worked primarily in the development of African American Mennonite congregations.

The papers are divided into three series:

(1) Correspondence, 1950-2009

(2) Sermons, circa 1970-2000

(3) Miscellaneous, 1980-1992

Records of a department of the Mennonite Board of Missions that worked to strengthen and support racial and ethnic minority congregations, to assist the church in relating to minority communities, to serve as liaison between militant groups and the church, and to help the church understand and practice the radical discipleship of Jesus Christ. Materials include council minutes and publications, photographs, and correspondence and subject files of minority council leaders.