Wheat Street Baptist Church is a historic

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

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 located in the

Sweet Auburn Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketones, ...

neighborhood of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Founded in 1869, the current building was constructed in 1921 and is located adjacent to the

Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park covers about 35 acres (0.14 km2) and includes several sites in Atlanta, Georgia related to the life and work of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Within the park is his boyhood h ...

. The church is notable for the role it played in the

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 in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

, especially under the leadership of William Holmes Borders, who served as pastor of the church from 1937 to 1988.

History

The church was founded in 1869 by members of First Baptist Church in

(now known as Friendship Baptist Church) who wanted a place of worship closer to where they lived. Seven members founded Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church on Howell Street, originally holding service under a bush arbor. Andrew Jackson would serve as the church's first pastor, a position he would hold until 1874. The church would relocate several times before moving to its present location on Auburn Avenue (at the time known as Wheat Street, hence the present name). In 1881, the church played a role in the Atlanta washerwomen strike, as a meeting of over 500 strikers was held in the church. In 1894, the Butler Street YMCA was formed in the basement of the church building. From 1898 to 1928, P. James Bryant served as the church's pastor. The current building was built in August 1921 after the previous building was destroyed in the

Great Atlanta fire of 1917 The Great Atlanta Fire of 1917 began just after noon on 21 May 1917 in the Old Fourth Ward of Atlanta, Georgia. It is unclear just how the fire started, but it was fueled by hot temperatures and strong winds which propelled the fire. The fire, ...

. In 1932, Wheat Street hosted a meeting of 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 ...

. In 1937, William Holmes Borders became the church pastor, a position he would hold until 1988. Borders would become a prominent activist in the civil rights movement, influencing a young

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 ...

King would often attend sermons held by Borders, and Borders's wife had been King's English teacher. Wheat Street is notable for its community outreach programs. On March 7, 1956, it became one of the first churches in the United States, and the first

black church The black church (sometimes termed Black Christianity or African American Christianity) is the faith and body of Christian congregations and denominations in the United States that minister predominantly to African Americans, as well as their ...

, to sponsor a

federal credit union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including deposit accounts, provision ...

. The church also maintains a charitable foundation and housing ministry, and in 1999 held over $33 million worth of

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

, making it one of the richest black churches in the United States.

References

Bibliography

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External links

* * {{Authority control African-American history in Atlanta Baptist churches in Atlanta Movements for civil rights Old Fourth Ward Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site and Preservation District Churches completed in 1931