First Baptist Church - Baltimore, MD - This Old Church on Waymarking.com

TEXT ON THE HISTORICAL MARKER:

First Baptist Church-First Baptist Church, the oldest Black Baptist church in Maryland, was founded amidst turmoil in 1836, five years after Nat Turner's Rebellion in Virginia. Alarmed at the Rebellion, Maryland and other slave states passed laws restricting the movement of free Blacks across state lines, prohibiting the employment of free Black immigrants, and forbidding the teaching of reading and writing to slaves.

In this heavily charged atmosphere, Moses Clayton, an ex-slave and lay minister from Norfolk, Virginia was called to Baltimore by William Crane, a well-known merchant and active Baptist, also from Norfolk. Clayton arrived in Baltimore in 1834, began Sunday School classes in his home, and was ordained the following year. On February 2, 1836, the "First Colored People's Baptist Church of Baltimore" was founded and housed in a school building near Belair Market, offered rent-free by a sympathetic banker.

As minister, Clayton energetically fought for the education of Black children. He joined other activists in petitioning the City to stop taxing Blacks for the support of public schools which excluded them, and urged a separate system to be established. The petitions were rejected, but the Baptist Sunday School, through its religious and secular classes, continued to play a vital part in the struggle to provide education to the Black community.

From the church website below in part:

"The church flourished under the leadership of Rev. J. C. Allen (1872-1904) and Rev. P. C. Neal (1904-1920), with the membership reaching eleven hundred. Under Rev. Allen, in 1880, the present edifice, through the aid of the Church Extension Society, was erected at a cost of $16,500 which included the ground and the building.

On the last Sunday in January in 1881, the congregation left the old building at Thompson and Young Streets to occupy their new church."

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Date the Church was built, dedicated or cornerstone laid: 01/07/1881 Age of Church building determined by?: Church website If Church is open to the public, please indicate hours: From: 8:00 AM To: 12:00 PM If Church holds a weekly worship service and "all are welcome", please give the day of the week: Sunday Indicate the time that the primary worship service is held. List only one: 11:00 AM Street address of Church: 525 North Caroline Street Baltimore, MD United States 21205 Primary website for Church or Historic Church Building: [Web Link] If denomination of Church is not part of the name, please provide it here: Not listed Secondary Website for Church or Historic Church Building: Not listed

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