FRIENDS OF HOSANNA AUMP
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Preserving and Interpreting the Built and Social Heritage

of Hosanna A.U.M.P. Church

Friends of Hosanna AUMP is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the built and social history of Hosanna A.U.M.P. Church, and the church’s role in major social movements, including the founding of Lincoln University, the abolition of slavery, Liberian colonization, and the Civil War.

Hosanna's Role in Pennsylvania and
American History

Hosanna A.U.M.P. Church and Cemetery, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, are surviving monuments to the 19th century village of Hinsonville (now Lincoln University, PA) that was settled by free and determined to be free Black Americans who were landowners and laborers, and directly involved in major social movements that transformed our country: the Underground Railroad and abolition of slavery; the founding of Ashmun institute (renamed Lincoln University in 1866 to honor the Emancipator President Abraham Lincoln); and the Civil War during which 18 Hinsonville men enlisted in the Union army where their combat roles transformed them into agents of emancipation.

The congregation built their first church at this site in 1843, just 5 miles from the Maryland border where slavery was legal prior to 1865. Hosanna hosted abolitionist meetings, and its members operated within an extensive, interracial network of pro-freedom activists. Worship services provided sanctuary for freedom seekers while members sheltered and fed freedom seekers their nearby homes. Chartered in 1854, Ashmun Institute was cofounded and supported by Hosanna members who are acknowledged Chester County Underground Railroad agents. Some church members, along with numerous Ashmun/Lincoln students, joined the 200,000 United States Colored Troops to reunify the country and liberate 4 million Americans from slavery.

Hosanna A.U.M.P. Church
National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Site

The meetings were held on Saturday evenings, and, according to some of the local residents, the church had been used as a transfer point for fugitives going west to Christiana in Lancaster County. Weekends provided the best opportunity for escape since slaves were off duty from Saturday noon until Monday morning. If they were successful in reaching Hosanna Meeting House while the meetings were in progress they mingled with the congregation and would drive away in a wagonload of free Negroes who hustled them to the next Underground station. This legend seems quite probable, since the church faced a crossroad which ran past the end of Great-Grandfather Thomas’ field and connected with the New London Road going west. Great-Grandfather’s later experiences with his barn tended to confirm the story.

Pauli Murray, Hinsonville Descendant

The National Park Service designated Hosanna A.U.M.P. Church as a Natopnal Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Site in Septemner 2023