Butler Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is a historic church at 1002 N. Church Street in

Tuskegee, Alabama Tuskegee () is a city in Macon County, Alabama, United States. It was founded and laid out in 1833 by General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, and made the county seat that year. It was incorporated in 1843. ...

. Built in 1957, it was added to the

Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage The Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage, commonly referred to as the Alabama Register, is an official listing of buildings, sites, structures, objects, and districts deemed worthy of preservation in the U.S. state of Alabama. These properties ...

in 1985 and the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1995. It was an important location associated with the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

of the 1950s and '60s. The church was founded by Rev. John M. Butler in late 1865. There were at least two earlier church buildings, built in 1867 and 1887, respectively. A shanty on the grounds of the church was the birthplace of Tuskegee Normal School, now

Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was de ...

, on July 4, 1881.

References

African Methodist Episcopal Zion churches in Alabama Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Macon County, Alabama Gothic Revival church buildings in Alabama Churches completed in 1957 Churches in Macon County, Alabama Properties on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage {{Alabama-church-stub