The Reverend Dr. Charles Douglas (C.D.) Martin (November 7, 1873 - March 1942) was a West Indian Moravian minister. He was born in

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to parents Joseph and Adriana Martin. He founded the Fourth Moravian Church in Harlem, New York in 1903. It was located at 124 West 136th Street, Manhattan. He called the church "Beth-Tphillah" which is Hebrew for House of Prayer. In 1912, he was ordained as the first and only Black minister of the Moravian Church in the United States. He presided over the church from July 1908 until his death in March 1942. The church merged with the Third Moravian Church in January 1968 to become the United Moravian Church.

Negro Silent Protest Parade

Rev. Dr. Martin was active in, and an activist for, the black community that his church served. In 1917, for the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

's historic Negro Silent Protest Parade, he worked with the Reverend Hutchens C. Bishop as Secretary and President, respectively. The gathering of thousands of Negroes, marching in silent protest, on a hot July day, made national news and set the model for other protests to follow. Dr. Martin penned the call to action encouraging "people of African descent" to join for the parade. During the parade, Black Boy Scouts passed out flyers to onlookers, white and black alike. In the wake of recent atrocities such as occurred in

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

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and with the U.S. occupation in Haiti in mind, he wrote in part, describing "Why We March":

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Charles D. 1873 births 1942 deaths African-American history in New York City African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement American human rights activists Clergy from New York City Moravian Church missionaries NAACP activists Historians from New York (state) Historians from Maryland