Queen of Angels Church (Newark)

Queen of Angels Church,formerly known as St. Peter's Church, was a historic Black Catholic church on Belmont Avenue at Morton Street in Newark, New Jersey. It was the first Catholic parish for African Americans in the Roman Catholic [Archdiocese of Newark|Archdiocese of Newark].

History

Queen of Angels was built between 1854 and 1861 and was Newark's first African-American Catholic parish, becoming such in 1926. Its original 1930 building was destroyed in 1958, and the parish relocated, taking over a space at a church once known as St. Peter's. It also had a parochial school under the same name.
During the Civil Rights Movement, Martin [Luther King Jr.] held meetings at the church for the Poor People's Campaign and the church also helped organized a march for racial harmony after his assassination.
The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and was administered by the Society of African Missions beginning in 1979. The school and parish closed in 2012.
The church was slated for demolition in 2014 and demolished in 2016.