American Historical Ephemera & Photography, including African Americana

[RELIGION]. 2 items, incl. LOVE, Emanuel King, Rev. (1850-1900). History of the First African Baptist Church, From Its Organization, January 20th, 1788, to July 1st, 1888… Savannah: The Morning News Print, 1888.

8vo (155 x 205 mm). (Title page loose but present, pages 193-196 partially loose, spotting and soiling to pages and edges.) Publisher’s brown cloth gilt (significant wear, light separation and discoloration).

FIRST EDITION. The First African Baptist Church grew from a small congregation founded in 1773 by George Leile, an enslaved man who had been licensed to preach by Georgia Baptists on plantations along the Savannah River. Among his earliest converts was Andrew Bryan, who was the only one of the church’s original converts to stay in Savannah following the Revolutionary War. The church was officially recognized in 1788 and in 1794 its first frame structure was built on land purchased by Bryan the year before. It would later be instrumental in helping escaped slaves make their way to freedom on the Underground Railroad.

[With:] 131st Anniversary broadside featuring pastors of the church. 11 x 15 in. printed broadside (chipping, loss, discoloration, spotting throughout), framed to 15 1/2 x 20 1/2 (not examined out of frame). Ca 1919.

This 131st anniversary broadside presents halftone oval portraits of the first 8 "Pastors of the First African Baptist Church, Franklin Square, Savannah, Ga., U.S.A." The subjects are numbered and identified below, with a brief statement about the church's history: "The First African Baptist Church, Franklin Square, Savannah, Ga., was organized January 20, 1788 at Brampton's Barn, three miles from the city of Savannah and is the oldest Negro church in America, and has one of the largest memberships in the United States."