Twelfth Baptist Church, Boston

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"Church of the Fugitive Slaves in Boston," from Anthony Burns: A History by Charles E. Stevens, 1856. Church of the Fugitive Slaves in Boston.jpg
"Church of the Fugitive Slaves in Boston," from Anthony Burns: A History by Charles E. Stevens, 1856.

The Twelfth Baptist Church is a historic church in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. 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 and Rev. Leonard Grimes, the historian George Washington Williams, pioneering educator Wilhelmina Crosson, and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr..

Roxbury, Boston Neighborhood of Boston in Massachusetts, United States

Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and a currently officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.

Boston Capital city of Massachusetts, United States

Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city proper covers 48 square miles (124 km2) with an estimated population of 685,094 in 2017, making it also the most populous city in New England. Boston is the seat of Suffolk County as well, although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest such area in the country. As a combined statistical area (CSA), this wider commuting region is home to some 8.2 million people, making it the sixth-largest in the United States.

Massachusetts State of the United States of America

Massachusetts, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named after the Massachusett tribe, which once inhabited the east side of the area, and is one of the original thirteen states. The capital of Massachusetts is Boston, which is also the most populous city in New England. Over 80% of Massachusetts's population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution. During the 20th century, Massachusetts's economy shifted from manufacturing to services. Modern Massachusetts is a global leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance, and maritime trade.

Contents

History

Title page of History of the Twelfth Baptist Church by George Washington Williams, 1874 History-of-the-Twelfth-Baptist-Church-Boston-Mass-From-1840-to-1874-With-a-Statement-and-Appeal-in-Behalf-of-the-Church-page3.jpeg
Title page of History of the Twelfth Baptist Church by George Washington Williams, 1874
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 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. [1] 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. [2]

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 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, Anthony Burns, Thomas Sims, and John S. Rock. [3] Grimes served as pastor until his death in 1873. [4]

Underground Railroad network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early to mid-19th century, and used by African-American slaves to escape to freedom

The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early to mid-19th century, and used by African-American slaves to escape into free states, Canada and Nova Scotia with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists, both black and white, free and enslaved, who aided the fugitives. Various other routes led to Mexico or overseas. An earlier escape route running south toward Florida, then a Spanish possession, existed from the late 17th century until Florida became a United States territory in 1821. However, the network now generally known as the Underground Railroad was formed in the late 1700s, and it ran north to the free states and Canada, and reached its height between 1850 and 1860. One estimate suggests that by 1850, 100,000 slaves had escaped via the "Railroad".

Lewis and Harriet Hayden House

Lewis and Harriet Hayden House was the home of African-American abolitionists who had escaped from slavery in Kentucky; it is located in Beacon Hill, Boston. They maintained the home as a stop on the Underground Railroad, and the Haydens were visited by Harriet Beecher Stowe as research for her book, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). Lewis Hayden was an important leader in the African-American community of Boston; in addition, he lectured as an abolitionist and was a member of the Boston Vigilance Committee, which resisted the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

Shadrach Minkins American slave

Shadrach Minkins 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. He is known for being freed from a courtroom in Boston after being captured by United States marshals under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Members of the Boston Vigilance Committee freed and hid him, helping him get to Canada via the Underground Railroad. Minkins settled in Montreal, where he raised a family. Two men were prosecuted in Boston for helping free him, but they were acquitted by the jury.

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. [1]

The church has had many notable pastors and members. Rev. George Washington Williams, 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. [5] Rev. Matthew A. N. Shaw was president of the National Equal Rights League of Boston, and organized the Negro Sanhedrin conference of 1924. [6]

George Washington Williams American Civil War soldier, Christian minister, politician, lawyer, journalist, and writer

George Washington Williams was an American Civil War soldier, Baptist minister, politician, lawyer, journalist, and writer on African-American history.

The National Equal Rights League (NERL) is the oldest nationwide human rights organization founded in Syracuse, New York in 1864 dedicated to the liberation of black people in the United States. Its origins can be traced back to the emancipation of slaves in the British West Indies in 1833. The league emphasized moral reform and self-help, aiming "to encourage sound morality, education, temperance, frugality, industry, and promote everything that pertains to a well-ordered and dignified life." Black leaders formed state and local branches of the league which drew many members, which caused the society to grow quickly, in areas such as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where people such as Thomas Morris Chester joined.

Negro Sanhedrin

The Negro Sanhedrin was a national "All-Race Conference" held in the American city of Chicago, Illinois, from February 11 to 15, 1924. The gathering was attended by 250 delegates representing 61 trade unions, civic groups, and fraternal organizations in a short-lived attempt to forge a national program protecting the legal rights of African-American tenant farmers and wage workers and extending the scope of civil rights.

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. [7]

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: Martin Luther King, Jr. Hester was an old friend of King's father, and was an important influence on King. [8]

Rev. Dr. Michael E. Haynes was active in the civil rights movement and represented Roxbury in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in the 1960s. [9]

Pastors

Pastors of the Twelfth Baptist Church to date: [10]

  1. Rev. Leonard Grimes (1848–1874)
  2. Rev. George Washington Williams (1874–1876)
  3. Rev. Williams Dennis (1876–1880)
  4. Rev. L. F. Walden (1880–1885)
  5. Rev. Robert Fairfax (1886–1890)
  6. Rev. H. H. Harris (1890–1891)
  7. Rev. J. Allen Kirk (1891–1894)
  8. Rev. John R. McCenny (1894)
  9. Rev. Matthew A. N. Shaw (1894–1922)
  10. Rev. William Hunter Hester (1923–1964)
  11. Rev. Dr. Michael E. Haynes (1964–2004)
  12. Rev. Dr. Arthur T. Gerald, Jr. (2010–Present)

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References

  1. 1 2 Vrabel, Jim (2004). When in Boston: A Time Line & Almanac. Northeastern University Press. p. 138. ISBN   1-55553-620-4.
  2. ↑ "History - Anti-Slavery Meetinghouse". Twelfth Baptist Church, Boston.
  3. ↑ "African American Churches of Beacon Hill". National Park Service.
  4. ↑ Hayden, Robert C. (1992). African-Americans in Boston: More than 350 Years. Trustees of the Boston Public Library. p. 129. ISBN   0-89073-083-0.
  5. ↑ Kirk, Rev. J. Allen (1898). "A Statement of Facts Concerning the Bloody Riot in Wilmington, N.C." University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library.
  6. ↑ Joyce Moore Turner with W. Burghardt Turner, Caribbean Crusaders and the Harlem Renaissance. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2005; pg. 113.
  7. ↑ Smith, Jessie Carney (1996). Notable Black American Women. VNR AG. pp. 152–155. ISBN   9780810391772.
  8. ↑ Baldwin, Lewis V. (2010). The Voice of Conscience: The Church in the Mind of Martin Luther King, Jr. Oxford University Press. pp. 42–44. ISBN   9780195380316.
  9. ↑ Craig, David J. "Roxbury minister Michael E. Haynes to deliver Baccalaureate sermon". B.U. Bridge.
  10. ↑ "Pastoral History". Twelfth Baptist Church, Boston.

Further reading

Coordinates: 42°19′31.2″N71°4′58.4″W / 42.325333°N 71.082889°W / 42.325333; -71.082889

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