An offshoot led by J. K. Humphrey, pastor of a large Black Seventh-day Adventist congregation in the Harlem section of New York City.
The break came in 1929. Humphrey’s ministerial credentials were suspended by the Greater New York Conference because of his deviation from denominational practice in promoting private real estate enterprise in his church. Humphrey and his supporters charged racial discrimination and neglect of Black church problems. Most of the congregation rallied to the call for separation.
For contemporary accounts of this defection, see Statement Regarding . . . J. K. Humphrey (published by the General Conference), and “Attitude of the Church” (an unsigned pamphlet, without title page, stating the view of the Humphrey party).
Humphrey’s organization, later comprising several congregations, took the name United Sabbath Day Adventist Church. At first merely schismatic, it later came to diverge somewhat in beliefs from the Seventh-day Adventist Church. After Humphrey’s death membership declined. Many returned to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the Harlem church building was recovered.