Second African Baptist Church
Second African Baptist Church
Second African Baptist Church
Second African Baptist Church
Savannah, GA 31401
Hours: Open to the public
Monday - Friday: 10:00a - 3:00p
Georgia's first native African-American religious leader and former slave, Andrew Bryan, founded the Second Colored Baptist Church in 1802, with 26 members. In 1823, the church was renamed the Second African Baptist Church.
The Second African Baptist Church was built in 1925 and it replaced a wood and stone building which was built by the African-American Baptists. Destroyed by fire, the church was completely rebuilt and contains the original pulpit, prayer benches and choir chairs.
In 1864, from the steps of the wooden church, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and General William T. Sherman read the Emancipation Proclamation to Savannah's citizens and promised the newly freed slaves "40 acres and a mule." In 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached his "I Have a Dream" sermon at the church.
