Day 6: Court Street Baptist, Part 3
A "testament to the perseverance, enterprise, and faith of a godly people."
Roll, Jordan, roll
Roll, Jordan, roll
My soul'll rise in heaven, Lord
For the year when Jordan rolls
Everybody sing!
The importance of the Black church cannot be overstated in a society with a history of white supremacy. A visual reminder of the separation between the races can be seen in the above black-and-white drawing of the historic church spires on Courthouse Hill. Not only are the two churches–Court Street and First Baptist–geographically separated in this image, but they also differ in the heights of their spires.
When the Black congregation proudly completed their 167-foot spire as the tallest structure in the town, it is easy to surmise the distinction didn’t sit well with some at First Baptist. In the 1880’s, Lynchburg was gaining a name for itself in the nation at large. Harper's Weekly stated in 1886–the year the city celebrated its centennial–that “if one wants to see what the New South is, let him get into the business whirl of this place.”1 With Lynchburg now the top producer of tobacco in the world2, there was a lot of attention on the city, and it would fit with the times that one or more building fund donors at First Baptist would champion their latest architectural wonder to take its place as the tallest structure in the city, deflecting attention from the Black church on the other end of the street.3
It's no surprise that First Baptist began planning its own new building in 1880, the year of the Black church's dedication, and by 1886 had fulfilled its plans to erect the current red-pressed brick, Gothic-styled church on the east end of Court Street, eclipsing Court Street’s structure by thirteen feet from street level. Yet, while certainly unintended by the artist, it’s interesting that the drawing above obscures the fact that Court Street Baptist, sitting higher by sea level, is still the tallest structure on the hill.
By the end of the 19th century, Court Street Baptist embraced a membership roll of over 2,000 saints. Born in adversity, separated by racism, and erected in strength, Court Street Baptist became, in words attributed to another southern Black church, “a center for Black spiritual edification, communal uplift, and fellowship.”4 In the 20th century, the church matured into a place to confront oppression and wrestle with national issues regarding political, economic, legal, social, and cultural change that affected its people. Its membership included Olivet C. Thaxton, who led the Lynchburg swimming pool protest in 1961. Thaxton brought 6 other black children to swim at the whites-only Miller Park Pool. They were denied, and he was told to leave the premises, but he kept standing, becoming one of three complainants in a desegregation suit against the City of Lynchburg.5 M.W. Thornhill Jr, Lynchburg’s first elected black mayor in 1990 was a member in the church.
The legacy of Court Street Baptist includes Virginia’s oldest Historically Black College, the Virginia Theological Seminary and College. Formed in 1887, it still operates today as the Virginia University of Lynchburg. The gifted Harlem renaissance poet Anne Spencer of Lynchburg graduated from it in 1899. Reverend Phillip F Morris, who pastored Court Street Baptist Church from 1883–1896, founded the institution. Another historical name, the fiery Vernon Johns, pastored Court Street Baptist from 1920–1926 and 1941–1943, those terms bookending his time as President of Virginia Theological Seminary. Johns later preceded Martin Luther King at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama from 1948–1952.
Reverend Rodney F. Forest, prior pastor of Court Street Baptist, celebrated the church as a place of "God’s creative presence," of "kingdom building," of "songs, the preached word, and stories."6 Vivian Camm, the first African-American and the first woman to serve as deputy superintendent of the Lynchburg Public School System and a member of Court Street Baptist church, wrote that the church is “a resilient people who have weathered the storms of slavery, civil war, Jim Crow, segregation, and racism.” It is a church with an “esteemed legacy” and a “testament to the perseverance, enterprise, and faith of a godly people.”7 Court Street Baptist is a legacy of God's redemptive work through Jesus Christ.
The people of the African Baptist Church have endured, and the first of the Black Baptist churches in Lynchburg survives to this day on Court Street, 180 years since its founding. A church still alive as other historical churches in the city close their doors–an opportunity perhaps for new churches opening their doors to the growing city to learn from and build connections to a community that has lived faithfully through the long struggle of human affairs. In January of 2023, they installed their 23rd Black pastor, a testament to resilient people who continue to sing hymns to their God, and an ironic twist of history in a city their ancestors built, in a white world that attempted to push them away.
Roll, Jordan, roll
Roll, Jordan, roll
My soul'll rise in heaven, Lord
For the year when Jordan rolls
Hallelujah
Harper's Weekly, The Industrial South, the New Lynchburg, December 4th 1886.
Elson, James. Lynchburg Virginia: The First Two Hundred Years. Warwick House Publishers: 2004, p.222.
If the conclusions I draw of possible white motives feel disingenuous to the reader, it may be helpful to recall the context of racial separation in American religion during this time. In 1872, the white Virginia General Association rejected a request from the state's Black Baptist association to partner in evangelism. As explained by the president of the white association, such an effort would lead to "intimate social intercourse and destroy the racial purity." See The Early Trails of the Baptists: A History of the Strawberry Baptist Association 1776-1976, 200th Anniversary Committee of the Strawberry Baptist Association, pg 59
Lynchburg’s Local History and Events, It Takes a Village goes on to say “O.C. Thaxton was a committed Civil Rights leader of the 60s, traveling statewide alongside Rev. Virgil Woods to discuss the segregation policy of the south. He was the one who played a major role in inviting Rev. King here. For that reason, amongst others he was unjustifiably. terminated from at least three jobs. including Patterson Drug Store. He was then approached by several leaders to strategize demonstrations against segregated facilities. All the while local police surveilled his activities for any violations of the segregated law. He received many awards for his past activities from the NAACP, SCLC, and the first Vernon Johns Award from Court St, Baptist Church.
Court Street Baptist Church, History, The Generations, 1843 - 2018
The Generations
"The importance of the Black church cannot be overstated in a society with a history of white supremacy." Thank you for saying this.