Hidden Histories, Historical Marker Resource
First African Baptist Church
This Hidden History was created by SCAD student Esteban Millán Pinzón as part of his SCAD art history department coursework, with guidance from art history professor Holly Goldstein, Ph.D., 2019.
The First African Baptist Church historical marker was dedicated in 2017. View the First African Baptist Church historical marker listing.
Gallery
Figure 1: The First African Baptist Church Historical Marker, Esteban Millan Pinzon, 2019.
Figure 2: Colton's Atlas of the World Illustrating Physical and Political Geography, Colton, G. W., Vol 1, New York, 1855 (First Edition)
Figure 3: George Leile Portrait, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, Raboteau, Albert J., 2004. Slave Religion: The “Invisible Institution” in the Antebellum South. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Figure 4: Big Buckhead Baptist Church, 1845, Jenkins County, Brian Brown, 2013
Figure 5: Silver Bluff Baptist Church, History of the Negro Church by Carter G. Woodson, 2004. http://www.thearda.com/timeline/events/event_12.asp.
Figure 6: Brampton Plantation, John McKinnon, 1825. Wheeler, Frank. Savannah River Plantations: Photographs from the Collection of the Georgia Historical Society. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 1998, p. 88.
Figure 7: Brampton Plantation, John McKinnon, 1825. Wheeler, Frank. Savannah River Plantations: Photographs from the Collection of the Georgia Historical Society. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 1998, p. 88.
Figure 8: Brampton Plantation looking towards the Savannah River, John McKinnon, 1998. Wheeler, Frank. Savannah River Plantations: Photographs from the Collection of the Georgia Historical Society. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 1998, p. 85.
Figure 9: Andrew Bryan, 1825. Elmore, Charles. Savannah Georgia. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2004, p. 34.
Figure 10: The First African Baptist Church, Savannah, GA.Front View, from Franklin Square, History of The First African Baptist Church, 1888, https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/love/love.html
Figure 11: The First African Baptist Church, Savannah, GA. Side View, from Franklin Square, History of The First African Baptist Church, 1888, https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/love/love.html
Figure 12: First African Baptist Church, Frances Benjamin Johnston, between 1926 and 1944.
https://0-library.artstor.org.library.scad.edu/#/asset/ALIBCONGRESSIG_10313214307
Figure 13: Rippon, John. Baptist Annual Register for 1790-1802 including sketches of the state of religion among different denominations of good men at home and abroad. London: Gale Ecco, Print Editions, 1814, p. 334.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433069134140;view=1up;seq=9
Figure 14: George Liele, Life and Legacy, Collaborative Collage with 5th Grade student, Esteban Millan, 2019.
Figure 15: George Liele. Life and Legacy, Creative Component, Original Illustration, Esteban Millan, 2019.
Figure 16: George Liele. Life and Legacy, Creative Component, Original Illustration, Esteban Millan, 2019.
Figure 17: Mass Meeting, Sunday May 1, 1960, Law Photograph Collection, City of Savannah, Research Library, Municipal Archives, 1960.
Figure 18: First African Baptist Church, Savannah, Esteban Millan, 2019.
Figure 19: Stained-Glass Window. Portrait of Andrew Bryan, The Image of the Black in Western Art Research Project and Photo Archive, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University, 1973.
Figure 20: Marcus Garvey with Prince Kojo Tovalou-Houenou of Dahomey, called the “Garvey of Africa,” and George O. Marke, 1924, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress.
Figure 21: Marcus Garvey, August 5, 1924, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress.
Figure 22: First African Baptist Church founded in 1773 in Savannah, Georgia, Richard Ellis, 2010.
Figure 23: First African Baptist Church, Nelson, Louis, University of Virginia, 2008.
Figure 24: First African Baptist Church, Savannah, Georgia, Postcard, Savannah Municipal Archives on behalf of V. & J. Duncan Antique Maps & Prints, n.d.
Figure 25: The Times-enterprise semi-weekly edition. (Thomasville, Ga.) 1, February 20, 1920, Miss Mildred Ruthford –Where Georgia Comes First.
Figure 26: Rippon, John. Baptist Annual Register for 1790-1802 including sketches of the state of religion among different denominations of good men at home and abroad. London: Gale Ecco, Print Editions, 1814.
I did this research motivated by knowing that small actions can lead to the creation of great and important things for humanity. I have thought that these actions work as a domino effect, where a single event taken place in a specific time and space is fundamental to achieving social changes in the short or long term. In my research, this catalyzing event happened for Liele when he was baptized and thus given the opportunity to begin to preach in Georgia in 1773. I want to represent this idea of a sparking event with an original artwork illustration that represents our potential legacy as something that we cannot see but just needs time to grow. (Figures 14, 15, 16)
Georgia History Society. “First African Baptist Church.” Accessed May 1, 2019. https://georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/first-african-baptist-church/
Love, Emanuel. History of the First African Baptist Church, From its Organization, January 20th, 1788, to July 1st, 1888. Including the Centennial Celebration, Addresses, Sermons, Etc. Savannah, GA: The Morning News Print, 1888. https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/love/love.html
Morrison, Doreen. Slavery's Heroes: George Liele and the Ethiopian Baptists of Jamaica 1783 -1865. Liele Books, 2015.
Rippon, John. Baptist Annual Register for 1790-1802 including sketches of the state of religion among different denominations of good men at home and abroad. London: Gale ECCO, Print Editions, 1814. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433069134140;view=1up;seq=9
Stephen R. Palumbi, and Peter Ralph. “George Liele: Negro Slavery’s Prophet of Deliverance,” Baptist Quarterly 20, no. 8 (1964): 340–351. https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/bq/20-8_340.pdf
Woodson, Carter. The History of the Negro Church. Washington, DC: The Associated Publishers, 1921. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=emu.010002408871;view=1up;seq=5