Beulah AME Church has a long history of struggle for civil rights. Rev. J. W. Beckett, the church’s fourth pastor, led black students in demonstrations in the 1890s for the hiring of black teachers in the public schools. The demonstrations called attention to the fact that black teachers were graduating from other black schools and should be given the opportunity to teach their own people. As a result of these efforts, black teachers were hired in the county’s public school system. In 1896, also under Rev. Beckett’s tenure, the parsonage, which stands today alongside the church was built.
Rev. A. I. Dunlap and Rev. Goodwin Douglas, both of Beulah AME Church, worked diligently with the community from 1959 to 1964 when the county public schools were closed to avoid integration. During this period, Rev. Douglas was arrested for organizing and participating in youth demonstrations. Rev. Dunlap, who had been associated with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta, GA, persuaded Bishop Frank Madison Reid to allow the African-American Robert R. Moton High School Class of 1960 to complete their senior year at KittrelI College in North Carolina, while the county’s schools were closed. While the schools were closed, Beulah AME taught black students in the basement.
Beulah AME Church is a part of the Virginia Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail.