A fire that damaged the original infrastructure of a historically Black church in Tennessee was intentionally set, authorities say.

Built in 1891, the Romanesque Revival church, located south of Beale Street, initially served as a sacred sanctuary for white residents of Memphis, per the cathedral’s website. Half a century later, the building was moved and sold to the African Methodist Episcopal Church. It became a safe haven and cultural site of faith for the Black community and was renamed Clayborn Temple under the leadership of AME Bishop Jim Clayborn.

Clayborn Temple’s restoration halted by suspected arson

According to the Associated Press, Clayborn Temple was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. After being vacant for some time, the National Park Service initiated a reconstruction movement in 2017 by awarding the church a $400,000 grant. The property was in the process of a $25 million remodel project for several years when it was intentionally set on fire around the end of last month, with the flare-up originating inside the church, according to a statement from the Memphis Fire Department.

On the day of the incident, Memphis Fire Chief Gina Sweat confirmed that although the building’s interior was destroyed, there was still a chance that portions of the exterior could be preserved. On May 14, the fire department announced that the structure had been stabilized, allowing investigators to begin using specialized tools to determine the cause of the fire. Authorities are actively working to identify a suspect connected to the incident.

A sacred site of Civil Rights legacy

The church has been a part of a couple of historic moments in the city. In 1968, the site was home to a labor strike involving Black sanitation workers who were being treated worse than humanely, according to Clayborn Temple’s website. The walkout kicked off the “I AM MAN” campaign, which caught the attention of civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, leading him to visit. That same year, the faith-based building was where the homegoing of a teen named Larry Payne, who was unjustly beaten and killed by Memphis Police Department Patrolman Leslie Dean Jones, occurred.

A monument called “I AM A MAN Plaza,” honoring the sanitation workers, was opened on church grounds in 2018. Despite how disheartening the situation has been for the community, Anasa Troutman, who serves as Historic Clayborn Temple’s executive director, shared that she and her peers are resilient.

“Clayborn Temple is sacred ground — home to generations of struggle, resilience and creativity,” Anasa Troutman, executive director of Historic Clayborn Temple, told the Associated Press on Wednesday. “This act of violence is painful, but it will not break our spirit.”

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