Dexter Avenue Baptist Church is a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

church in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

, United States, affiliated with the

Progressive National Baptist Convention The Progressive National Baptist Convention (PNBC), incorporated as the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., is a mainline predominantly African-American Baptist denomination emphasizing civil rights and social justice. The headquarte ...

. The church was designated as a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1974 because of its importance in the civil rights movement and American history. and In 1978 the official name was changed to the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, in memory of Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

, who was pastor there and helped organize the

Montgomery bus boycott The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a foundational event in the civil rights movement in the United States ...

in 1955 during the civil rights era. The church is located steps away from the

Alabama State Capitol The Alabama State Capitol, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the First Confederate Capitol, is the state capitol building for Alabama. Located on Capitol Hill, originally Goat Hill, in Montgomery, it was declared a National ...

. On January 1, 2008, the US Government submitted the church to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

as part of an envisaged future World Heritage Site nomination, because of this important history. It is on the UNESCO "Tentative List of

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

s".UNESCO World Heritage Convention, Tentative Lists, Civil Rights Movement Sites, https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5241/ (Referenced 6 Dec 2016)

History

The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church congregation was organized in 1877 by

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), abolitionism, emancipation (gra ...

and

free people of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...

. It was first known as the Second Colored Baptist Church. The church trustees paid $270 on January 30, 1879, for a lot at the corner of what is now Dexter Avenue and Decatur Street. The first church building was a small wood-frame building. The congregation began construction of a new building in 1883; the brick building was not completed until 1889. The church began serving the broader

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

community on October 3, 1887, when it hosted the first registration of students for

Alabama State University Alabama State University (ASU) is a public historically black university in Montgomery, Alabama. Founded in 1867, ASU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History Alabama State University was founded in 1867 as the Lin ...

, a

historically black college Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

. In 1899,

William H. McAlpine William H. McAlpine (June 1847 - November 3, 1905) was a Baptist minister and educator in Alabama. He was a founder and the second president of Selma University. He was a leader in the Baptist church and a founder and president of the Baptist For ...

became pastor; he was a cofounder of

Selma University Selma University is a Private historically black Baptist Bible college in Selma, Alabama. It is affiliated with the Alabama State Missionary Baptist Convention. History The institution was founded in 1878 as the Alabama Baptist Normal and The ...

Vernon Johns Dr. Vernon Johns (April 22, 1892 – June 11, 1965) was an American minister based in the South and a pioneer in the civil rights movement. He is best known as the pastor (1947–52) of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He ...

, an early leader of the Civil Rights Movement, served as

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

from 1947 to 1952. He was succeeded by Dr.

, who was pastor of the church from 1954 to 1960. He organized the 1955

from his basement office. Near the church is the former Dexter Parsonage, which served as home to twelve pastors of the church between 1920 and 1992. It is now operated as the Dexter Parsonage Museum, interpreting church history. The church was added, on its own merits, to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1982.

Gallery

Montgomery December 2018 44 (Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church).jpg, Exterior Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Interior.jpg, Interior Montgomery December 2018 65 (Dexter Avenue King Memorial Legacy Center).jpg, Dexter Avenue King Memorial Legacy Center Dexter Baptist Pastorium Apr2009 01.jpg, Dexter Parsonage Museum

References

External links

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Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church
{{Authority control National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery, Alabama National Historic Landmarks in Alabama Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Religious organizations established in 1877 Baptist churches in Alabama Churches in Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery bus boycott African-American history in Montgomery, Alabama Gothic Revival church buildings in Alabama Italianate architecture in Alabama Civil rights movement museums 1877 establishments in Alabama Italianate church buildings in the United States

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links