Abyssinian Baptist Church was founded in 1808 by Black and Ethiopian worshippers who withdrew from the First Baptist Church of New York City over segregated seating, making it one of the oldest Black Baptist congregations in the United States. The congregation relocated to Harlem in 1923, where its Gothic Revival sanctuary on West 138th Street was built. It was led for decades by Adam Clayton Powell Sr. and Adam Clayton Powell Jr., the latter also a longtime U.S. congressman.