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Our storied history reaches back to 1841 as the first African American Presbyterian Church in the Nation’s Capital playing a prominent role in the struggle for freedom, civil rights, and the founding of educational institutions.  
 
Today we warmly welcome and champion the rights of all people regardless of their country of origin, race, sexual orientation, age, and economic status as part of God’s loving human family.


Historic Father's Day Video Presentation 6/20/21
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13th Amendment and Slavery
February 14, 2015
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Pastors (including our own Rev. Bob Bell), historians, church choirs, and an actor portraying abolitionist Frederick Douglass reflected on the 150th anniversary of the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery. This event was held at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church where President Lincoln frequently worshiped. 
 
An Oral History of 15th Street Presbyterian Church
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"Kindling Our Journey with Praises to God"
Video made in 2011 for church's 170th Anniversary

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"A Few Words from Rev. John L. Pharr"
Video made in 2011 for church's 170th Anniversary

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Meet Francis Grimké (1850-1937), Faithful Minister of Grace
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Rev. Francis James Grimké
(October 10, 1850 – October 11, 1937) was an American Presbyterian minister in Washington, DC who was prominent in working for equal rights for African Americans. 

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Rev. Francis James Grimké: "Some Reflections, Growing Out of the Recent Epidemic of Influenza That Afflicted Our City: A Discourse" - Sunday Nov. 3 1918.

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Rev. Francis James Grimké: "God and the Race Problem" - a discourse delivered at 15th Street Presbyterian Church on May 3, 1903. 
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Rev. Henry Highland Garnet
On February 12, 1865, Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, a former slave and now pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., became the first African American to speak in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C... 

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Father's Day Video Presentation June 20, 2021
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