The First Baptist Church, located at 632 West Main Street, is the oldest Black church in Charlottesville, Virginia. Prior to the Civil War, most Black Baptists of Charlottesville were limited to attending services in the segregated balconies of white Baptist Churches, including one previously located on the corner of Second and East Jefferson Streets.
During that time, Black churchgoers wanted a place of their own in which to worship. In March 1863, approximately 800 enslaved and freed people petitioned to form their own congregation. This was prior to the arrival of the Union Troops on March 3, 1865, which was well after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863.
Initially, a law that prohibited Black people from worshiping without a white minister present meant that all of the ministers of the new church had to be white. However, in 1868, the Rev. William Gibbons, the husband of Isabella Gibbons, a prominent teacher at the Jefferson School, became the first black pastor of First Baptist Church. Since then, the church has had 17 Black pastors. The church building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
After the Civil War ended, First Baptist was instrumental in providing educational instruction to hundreds of freed African Americans. Church leaders were instrumental in establishing the local NAACP chapter and in integrating Black patients at the university hospital. The Church has continued to carry on this tradition into the 21st century. For example, First Baptist held an early morning community worship service on the day of the Unite the Right Rally, August 12, 2017 to prepare spiritually to confront the ugly, harmful hatred that activists would encounter that day.
Much like the building itself, the church’s story is one of preserving and changing to meet the needs of its members. Through the longstanding dedication of the congregation to the Kingdom of God, the community, and to the moral and spiritual values inherent in the Christian faith, First Baptist is an established and integral part of Charlottesville. From those first 800 members who envisioned, persevered, and created this congregation, to their and other descendants’ engagement in the life of this church, we appreciate and honor First Baptist!
