First African Baptist Church was the first brick building owned by African Americans in the city of Savannah and was built on the edge of town serving as a symbol of the African American civilization and movement into the city. The church was built in the high style of Romanesque Revival for what was at the time an unlikely group of patrons.
First African continued to be vital to the African American community in the twentieth century, particularly during the Civil Rights era. Savannah was a center for racial injustice before and during the Civil Rights Movement just as it had been a center for the horrors of the era of slavery a century prior. First African has been standing and strengthening its black members through the atrocities they’ve faced for many generations.
My responsibility as part of the documentation team was to measure and document all windows in the church, including intricate stained glass and ornamental trim surrounds.
