The Twelfth Baptist Church is a historic church in the Roxbury neighborhood of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. Established in 1840, it is the oldest direct descendant of the First Independent Baptist Church in Beacon Hill. Notable members have included abolitionists such as

Lewis Hayden Lewis Hayden (December 2, 1811 – April 7, 1889) escaped slavery in Kentucky with his family and escaped to Canada. He established a school for African Americans before moving to Boston, Massachusetts to aid in the abolition movement. There h ...

and Rev.

Leonard Grimes Leonard Andrew Grimes (November 9, 1815 – March 14, 1873) was an African-American abolitionist and pastor. He served as a conductor of the Underground Railroad, including his efforts to free fugitive slave Anthony Burns captured in accorda ...

, the historian

George Washington Williams George Washington Williams (October 16, 1849 – August 2, 1891) was a soldier in the American Civil War and in Mexico before becoming a Baptist minister, politician, lawyer, journalist, and writer on African-American history. He served in the ...

, the artist Edward Mitchell Bannister and abolitionist and entrepreneur Christiana Carteaux, pioneering educator Wilhelmina Crosson, and

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

leader 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 ...

History

The Twelfth Baptist Church was established in 1840 when a group of 36 dissenters broke with the First Independent Baptist Church, which met in what is now known as the

African Meeting House The African Meeting House, also known variously as First African Baptist Church, First Independent Baptist Church and the Belknap Street Church, was built in 1806 and is now the oldest black church edifice still standing in the United States. It ...

. The exact reason for the split is not clear. According to some historians, the dissenters wanted to take a more aggressive stand against slavery than the other members. In addition, the First Independent Baptist Church had not had a permanent minister for some time, which may have given rise to general disagreements as to how to run the church. Led by Rev. George H. Black, a Baptist minister and native of the West Indies, the new congregation moved to Phillips Street in Beacon Hill. The Rev. Leonard Grimes was ordained as its first pastor in 1848. Grimes was an abolitionist and

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

conductor who had served two years in prison for attempting to rescue a family of slaves in Virginia. Under his leadership, the church became known as "The Fugitive Slave Church." Scores of escaped slaves were aided by the church, and many chose to join the congregation. Early members included Lewis and Harriet Hayden,

Shadrach Minkins Shadrach Minkins (c. 1814 – December 13, 1875) was an African-American fugitive slave from Virginia who escaped in 1850 and reached Boston. He also used the pseudonyms Frederick Wilkins and Frederick Jenkins.Collison (1998), p. 1. He is known fo ...

, Anthony Burns,

Thomas Sims Thomas Sims was an African American who escaped from slavery in Georgia and fled to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1851. He was arrested the same year under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, had a court hearing, and was forced to return to enslavement. ...

, Peter Randolph, and John S. Rock. Grimes served as pastor until his death in 1873. In 1907, the church moved to the former Jewish temple Mishkan Tefila at 47 Shawmut Avenue in Roxbury. It later moved to its current location at 150-160 Warren Street. The church has had many notable pastors and members. Rev.

, its second pastor, was a Civil War veteran, lawyer, journalist, and groundbreaking historian. Williams wrote a history of the church in 1874. Rev. J. Allen Kirk wrote an oft-cited account of the Wilmington massacre of 1898. Rev. Matthew A. N. Shaw was president of the

National Equal Rights League The National Equal Rights League (NERL) is the oldest nationwide human rights organization in the United States. It was founded in Syracuse, New York in 1864 dedicated to the liberation of black people in the United States. Its origins can be tr ...

of Boston, and organized the Negro Sanhedrin conference of 1924.Joyce Moore Turner with W. Burghardt Turner, ''Caribbean Crusaders and the Harlem Renaissance.'' Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2005; pg. 113. Noted educator Wilhelmina Crosson taught Sunday School at the Twelfth Baptist Church in the 1940s. One of the first African-American female schoolteachers in Boston, Crosson developed the city's first remedial reading program, and was an early advocate of black history education. Rev. William Hunter Hester wrote a history of the Twelfth Baptist Church in 1946. In the 1950s, he worked with a young assistant minister who was pursuing doctoral studies in theology at Boston University:

Hester was an old friend of King's father, and was an important influence on King. Rev. Dr. Michael E. Haynes was active in the civil rights movement and represented Roxbury in the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

in the 1960s. Haynes was instrumental in founding the Boston/Roxbury campus of Godron-Conwell Theological Seminary -- known as the Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME) -- in 1976 to provide "ministerial training for Hispanic/Latino, African American, Asian and other ethnic minority pastors and church leaders in Boston and throughout the U.S." On September 20th 2021, King Boston donated $1 million to support the church.

Pastors

Pastors of the Twelfth Baptist Church to date: # Rev.

(1848–1874) # Rev.

(1874–1876) # Rev. Williams Dennis (1876–1880) # Rev. L. F. Walden (1880–1885) # Rev. Robert Fairfax (1886–1890) # Rev. H. H. Harris (1890–1891) # Rev. J. Allen Kirk (1891–1894) # Rev. John R. McCenny (1894) # Rev. Matthew A. N. Shaw (1894–1922) # Rev. William Hunter Hester (1923–1964) # Rev. Dr. Michael E. Haynes (1964–2004) # Rev. Dr. Arthur T. Gerald, Jr. (2010–Present)

References

External links

* {{Coord, 42, 19, 31.2, N, 71, 4, 58.4, W, type:landmark_region:US_dim:66, display=title Baptist churches in Boston African-American history in Boston 1840 establishments in Massachusetts

History

Pastors

References

Further reading

External links