Research Catalog

Title

First African Baptist Church (Savannah, Ga.) records, 1873-1977.

Author

First African Baptist Church (Savannah, Ga.)

Supplementary Content

Finding Aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

5 microfilm reels.

Summary

The records of the First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia are divided into nine series: Church Minutes; Financial Records; Membership Records; Deeds, Leases and Legal Papers; Minutes of Boards and Associations; Sunday School Records; Baptist Young Peoples Records; Workers Council Records; and Church Histories, Printed Matter and Miscellaneous.

Donor/Sponsor

Preservation of the Black Religious Heritage Project funded by the Lilly Endowment.

Subjects

• Baptists > United States
• African American churches > Georgia > Savannah
• African Americans > Georgia > Savannah > History
• African Americans > Religion
• African American Baptists > Georgia > Savannah > History
• First African Baptist Church (Savannah, Ga.) History
• First African Baptist Church (Savannah, Ga.)
• Church records and registers > Georgia > Savannah

Reproduction (note)

• Microfilm.

Original Location (note)

• Originals in First African Baptist Church; 23 Montgomery Street, Savannah, Ga. 31401.

Terms of Use (note)

• Permission from church is required to purchase copy of microfilm. Letter authorizing reproduction should be sent to the Curator of Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Book Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd., New York, NY 10037.

Source (note)

• Originals in First African Baptist Church

Biography (note)

• The First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia was formed by Reverend George Liele in the late 1770's. A plantation owner, Andrew Bryan, organized a congregation of baptized slaves into the first black missionary Baptist Church in 1788. The First African Baptist Church was admitted into the Georgia Baptist Association in 1790.

Indexes/Finding Aids (note)

• Finding aid available.

Processing Action (note)

• Processed
• Microfilmed
• Cataloged

OCLC

NYPW00-A138

Author

First African Baptist Church (Savannah, Ga.)

Title

First African Baptist Church (Savannah, Ga.) records, 1873-1977.

Terms Of Use

Permission from church is required to purchase copy of microfilm. Letter authorizing reproduction should be sent to the Curator of Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Book Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd., New York, NY 10037.

Reproduction

Microfilm. New York Public Library. 1992. 5 microfilm reels. (MN *ZZ-35760)

Original Location

Originals in First African Baptist Church; 23 Montgomery Street, Savannah, Ga. 31401.

Biography

The First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia was formed by Reverend George Liele in the late 1770's. A plantation owner, Andrew Bryan, organized a congregation of baptized slaves into the first black missionary Baptist Church in 1788. The First African Baptist Church was admitted into the Georgia Baptist Association in 1790.

In 1793 Bryan sold property to the church; this lot is said to be the oldest piece of real estate owned continuously by black people in the United States. Andrew Cox Marshall, nephew of Bryan, was named pastor of First African Baptist Church in 1812. A schism occurred in 1832 when Marshall allowed a white minister advocating a new faith to preach at First African Baptist Church. The association of Georgia Baptist churches dissolved its association with the church. The majority of the congregation favored Marshall's ideas, and moved to a new location. Other members remained at the original site, which later became First Bryan Baptist Church. A dispute about which church could lay claim to being the oldest African-American church organized in Georgia was settled in 1888 by the State Missionary Baptist Connection of Georgia resulting in favor of the First African Baptist Church over First Bryan Baptist Church. The present building of the church was erected in 1859, by members who at that time were slaves.

Indexes

Finding aid available.

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Finding Aid