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[[Category:Churches in Montgomery, Alabama]] |
[[Category:Churches in Montgomery, Alabama]] |
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[[Category:Culture of Montgomery, Alabama]] |
[[Category:Culture of Montgomery, Alabama]] |
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[[Category:Local civil rights history in the United States]] |
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{{US-church-stub}} |
{{US-church-stub}} |
Revision as of 23:37, 30 October 2009
First Baptist Church | |
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Address | 347 N Ripley St Montgomery, AL 36104-2730 |
Country | United States |
Denomination | Baptist |
The First Baptist Church on North Ripley Street in Montgomery, Alabama, is a landmark in downtown Montgomery for its role in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. From 1952 to 1961, the church was led by civil rights activist Ralph Abernathy; the church and the parsonage were bombed on January 10, 1957. On May 21, 1961, the church was a refuge for the passengers on the Freedom ride which met with violence at the Greyhound Bus Station in downtown Montgomery. Filled with some 1500 worshipers and activists, among whom Martin Luther King, Jr., the building was besieged by 3000 whites who threatened to burn it. The mob was kept at bay by U.S. marshals sent there by United States Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy; around midnight the National Guard finally dispersed the mob.[1] These events played a crucial part in the desegregation of interstate travel.
History
The congregation first organized in 1866; early parishioners had worshiped during slavery at the "other" First Baptist Church in Montgomery, on Perry Street. In 1867, 700 such African-American communicants had marched to an empty lot on Ripley Street, declaring themselves the "First Baptist Church (Colored)," founding what became "the first 'free Negro' institution in the city."[2] The first pastor was Nathan Ashby, also the first president of the Colored Baptist Convention in Alabama.
References
- ^ Schlesinger, Arthur M. (2002). Robert Kennedy and His Times. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 296–300. ISBN 9780618219285.
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(help) - ^ Ling, Peter John (2002). Martin Luther King, Jr. Routledge. p. 32. ISBN 9780415216647.
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