As early as 1856, African American Presbyterian ministers had gathered in caucuses, beginning with the Evangelical Association of Colored Ministers of Congregational and Presbyterian Churches, organized at Shiloh Presbyterian Church in New York City. From 1957 until 1968, however, there was no national gathering of Black Presbyterians. With the understanding that Black Presbyterians during the foment of Black Power had a responsibility to change the majority-white denomination, Clarence Cave, Thelma Adair, and other prominent Black ministers and elders gathered in St. Louis in 1968 and elected leadership of a new group, Black Presbyterians United. Since 1988, this group dedicated to empowering the people of the African diaspora has been known as the National Black Presbyterian Caucus.