By: James Fleischmann
Today's speaker was the Reverend Dr. Denison D. Harrield Jr., Pastor of the Wallace Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church.
Pastor Harrield discussed the history of the African Methodist Episcopalian denomination from its inception in the early 1800s and the opening of the Wallace Chapel in Summit, in 1935-37. He discussed the Chapel’s second Pastor, Rev. Dr. Florence S. Randolph, who had a remarkable journey from South Carolina to New Jersey where she not only oversaw the Chapel but was a major force in the women’s suffragette movement as well as a respected leader in the State.
Pastor Harrield served as an intelligence officer in the USAF for eight years after graduating from Howard University in 1964. He then spent 18 years with NY Telephone as a district manager but also received a divinity degree from NY Theological Seminary and was ordained in 1978. In 1989, he became the Pastor on the Chapel.
Pastor Denison has a long and impressive history of service in the local community. Some of his associations include the Summit Housing Authority, SAGE, Summit Interfaith Council, the Boy Scouts, American Legion and the Rotary.
In 2007, Pastor Harrield succeeded in gaining historical registry for the Chapel.