Grace Episcopal Church

The sharp, white-painted wooden spire of Grace Episcopal Church rises above the brick rowhouses of Georgetown. Built in eighteen sixty-six, the church served a congregation of freed African Americans who had previously worshipped in the galleries of white churches. Reverend Alexander Crummell, a prominent Black intellectual and abolitionist, became the first rector here. He spent his Sundays pushing for education and social dignity from the pulpit, turning a small neighborhood parish into a hub for the capital's post-Civil War Black community.