His Light Shines in Our House
PART TWO OF TWO
by Christopher S . Hunter , Ph . D .
Assistant Professor of Architecture Mississippi State University
“… for it is only when we are within the walls of our churches that we are wholly ourselves , that we keep alive a sense of our personalities in relation to the total world in which we live , that we maintain a quiet and constant communion with all that is deepest in us …” 1 Richard Wright
Every building , regardless of its use , has a story to tell . This is especially true of churches , and in particular Black churches . As Mississippi author Richard Wright wrote , the African American church is a second home for its parishioners . As a safe haven , the church houses of the 19th and early 20th centuries became the heart of the Black community . Each church building hints at its own history , and visiting one evokes many questions : Who founded and organized the congregation , and when ? When was the original church building constructed , and by whom ? Was an African American architect involved in the design ? The need to capture these stories is at the heart of my research . I ’ m most curious about why African American churches look the way they do . I explored churches in Georgia , Mississippi , and Alabama to find out .
Ground Zero
The First African Baptist Church ( FABC ), located in Savannah , Georgia , represents ground zero for my research . The current building was constructed by enslaved persons in the mid-1850s . FABC can trace its beginnings to the regular gathering of enslaved people who worked and lived on the Brampton Plantation , one of several large plantations located three miles from Savannah along the river . 2 FABC was organized in 1773 by its founder , George Leile . 3 By 1830 the church had a membership of over 2,400 . 4 The Savannah Baptist Church ( known today as the First Baptist Church ) sold their existing wooden church house to FABC for $ 1,500 . This church once sat on the site of the current church . With continued growth into the 1850s , under the leadership of Andrew Marshall , FABC ’ s third pastor , the congregation constructed the current church house under the cover of darkness and by lantern . The new church was completed in 1859 . This building became the first brick edifice owned by African Americans in the state of Georgia . 5
The current church remained a red brick exposed building until the late
Stained glass window in the First African Baptist Church of Savannah , Georgia . Christopher S . Hunter
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