The African Zion Baptist Church in Malden (Kanawha County) is the oldest Black Baptist church in the state. It began as a formal congregation in 1852, when the area was known as Kanawha Salines and had the largest concentration of enslaved people in West Virginia. The land, money, and materials for the present one-room church building were donated, and services started there in 1872. The church is recognized as the "mother church" for all Black Baptists in West Virginia.

African Zion's most famous member was educator Booker T. Washington. After he escaped slavery, Washington came to the area as a boy. He returned to Malden after graduating from college in 1876 and taught Sunday School at the church. He and his first wife were married at African Zion in 1881 before he left to lead the Tuskegee Institute. He kept his membership there until his death in 1915.

The church building has changed very little since the 1870s and has a simple, wooden design. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Today, the church is part of a heritage area that includes a replica of Booker T. Washington's childhood cabin.