LL-005

Mt. Zion’s Gospel Chorus

Black-and-white photograph of the Mt. Zion church choir, about fourteen men and women in dark robes with light stoles, posed in rows on the front steps of a clapboard church. A woman in a white dress stands at front center with her hands clasped. Tall shuttered windows frame the group. — Faith and music were central to Lyttonsville’s identity. The Mt. Zion Gospel Chorus (The Zionairs), along with Pilgrim Baptist Church, anchored the community’s worship and resilience for decades.

Photo details

Title: Mt. Zion’s Gospel Chorus
Display ID: LL-005
Date: Unknown
Collection: Patricia Tyson

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About this photo

Faith and music were central to Lyttonsville’s identity. “The Zionairs” of Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal Church, pictured here, filled Sunday services with song and anchored the congregation’s worship for decades. Mt. Zion was established in 1866, in the first years after Emancipation. Church records indicate the church was purchased by the community Colored people in 1869 and used as a school and church. Around 1904 the name was changed to Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal Church and together with Pilgrim Baptist Church, it formed one of the community’s two anchor congregations — institutions that carried Linden-Lyttonsville through hardship and celebration alike. Choir robes, rehearsals, and anniversary programs were fixtures of community life.

Pictured in this photo:

Front row (left to right): Lawrence Tyson, Evelyn Sewell, Inez Turner, Pauline Campbell (in front of her is Betty Mercer Houston, pianist), Katherine Gassaway, Mary “Sis” Fields, Simeon “Simmie” Clinton
Second row (left to right): Edward Young, Mollie Mercer, Lottie Wise, Gladys Johnson, “Bandy”
Third row: John Hopkins

This photograph is preserved in the collection of Patricia Tyson. Its date is unknown, and the museum welcomes any memories or records that could date it or identify the occasion.