The Struggle Begins

Andrew Bryan

Savannah’s African American’s struggle for freedom and equality is long and storied. It is found in the earliest days of their arrival to this land that was so hostile to them. One of the first strugglers was personified in Andrew Bryan who was born enslaved in Goose Creek, South Carolina in 1737. He was later transported to a Savannah plantation. While he was a young man he heard the preaching of George Leile. Leile was the first African American to be ordained.  Leile, a slave, was licensed by the Baptists to preach in Georgia. Bryan and Leile became good friends and started preaching alongside of each other.

Leile evacuated with the British to Jamaica in 1782 at the end of the American Revolution.  Bryan stayed and was the only one of the three early black Baptist preachers in the colonies to remain in America. Bryan continued his work in Savannah and inherited Leile’s work at the Yamacraw and Brampton Plantations. Bryan began to develop a significant following in the Savannah area. The whites became suspicious at the crowds he seemed to draw and they harassed the slaves that attended the services. The slaves were punished with whipping, shackling, hanging, beating, burning, and imprisonment. The church services were interrupted constantly by the whites. Bryan was accused of plotting of a rebellion, so he was beaten and thrown in jail. It was at this time Jonathan Bryan, his slaveholder, intervened with the authorities for his release. Jonathan Bryan was a leader of a group who were making efforts to evangelize their slaves which was at odds with most slaveholders, who thought the gospel might make the slaves rebellious. He secured a rice barn for the slaves’ meetings. This made the whites more comfortable because they could track their movements and if necessary attend the services.

The imprisonment and Bryan’s prayers for the men who beat him gained him respect among many whites but also increased his following among the black community. Bryan was eventually able to buy his wife’s and his own freedom. He created a hauling business that allowed him to buy property for church construction in 1790. The church that would be built on this land is called the Mother Church of Black Baptists. It was the first black Baptist church to be established in America. It was chartered under the name of Bryan Street African Baptist Church. By 1800, when the congregation had grown to about 700, they reorganized themselves as the First African Baptist Church. Later in 1832 a dispute over doctrine caused the church to split. The second church became known as First Bryan Baptist Church. Both congregations are descendants of Bryan's original congregation.

 The current church was built in the 1850s (completed in 1859) by both free African Americans and slaves. The builders made the bricks and built the church after they had labored in the fields all day. The church was the first building constructed of brick to be owned by African Americans in the state of Georgia. The holes in the sanctuary flooring form a design meant to look like tribal symbols. These were air holes for escaped slaves who would hide in the church, interpreted as in the pattern of a Kongo cosmogram, which served as a stop on the Underground Railroad (UGR). During the Civil War, the church housed runaway slaves in a 4-foot (1.2 m) space beneath the sanctuary floorboards. The upstairs balcony contains some of the original pews made by the slaves. On the sides of the pews are tribal symbols of the slaves who made the furniture. The stained-glass windows in the building date to 1885 and depict African-American subjects. It stands as an African American icon in the original struggle for freedom and justice in this new country where they now lived. (Information used from church website)

The church organized the first Sunday School for African Americans on July 26, 1826. First African Baptist Church grew steadily with 575 members in 1788, 850 in 1802, and 2,795 in 1831. Two satellite churches also emerged after 1800.

Bryan died on October 12, 1812. He never saw the current church building. He preached until he was ninety-one. His [missing something here] was held prestige in both white and black Baptist circles in the United States and in England. He is buried in Savannah’s Laurel Grove Cemetery.

While he may never have seen the church building that stands today, he probably did envision the role it played in the freedom movement of his people. Today, an estimated twenty to twenty-five thousand visitors tour each year.

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First African Baptist Church before the steeple was destroyed by hurricane.

First African Baptist Church Today