Sarah Bromery, 1880-1980

Sarah W. Bromery, 1880 - 1980

The Metropolitan A.M.E. Church was first organized and a board of trustees elected in 1837. Sarah W. Bromery, a prominent leader in the African-American community, served in 1937 as Chairwoman of the 100th Anniversary Celebration of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church in Cumberland.

The first A.M.E. church was erected in 1848 on Frederick Street by freed slaves. Prior to that time the black people of the Methodist Episcopal faith attended the Center Street M.E. Church where a portion of the gallery was set apart for their use. The A.M.E. church was later rebuilt and enlarged, with the construction and completion of the present church at the corner of Frederick and Decatur Streets taking place in the latter part of the nineteenth century.

A grandson of Sarah's, Dr. Randolph Wilson Bromery, went on to receive a Ph.D. in geology from Johns Hopkins University in 1968 and later served as Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts, as well as the president of several colleges. Dr. Bromery notes that it was his grandmother, Sarah, or "Nana" as he referred to her, who encouraged him to study and made arrangements for him to take courses in mathematics in the evening that were not available to him at school. Dr. Bromery writes that "Nana" was a dominant figure in the house, well-educated, and ambidextrous, and, along with his mother, ran a part-time food catering business from the home.