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Dexter Avenue Baptist Church

Historic church in Alabama, United States

Field	Value
name	Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
nrhp_type	nhl
image	Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.jpg
caption	Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
location	454 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, Alabama
coordinates
locmapin	USA Alabama Montgomery#Alabama#USA
built	1883–89
architecture	Late Victorian
designated_nrhp_type	May 30, 1974
added	July 1, 1974
refnum	74000431

Montgomery, Alabama

Dexter Avenue Baptist Church is a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama, United States, affiliated with the Progressive National Baptist Convention. The church was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1974 because of its importance in the civil rights movement and American history. In 1978 the official name was changed to the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was pastor there and helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 during the civil rights era. The church is located steps away from the Alabama State Capitol.

On January 1, 2008, the US Government submitted the church to UNESCO as part of an envisaged future World Heritage Site nomination, because of this important history. It is on the UNESCO "Tentative List of World Heritage Sites".

History

The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church congregation was organized in 1877 by freedmen and free people of color. It was first known as the Second Colored Baptist Church. The founding pastor was Charles Octavius Boothe. The church trustees paid $270 on January 30, 1879, for a lot at the corner of what is now Dexter Avenue and Decatur Street. The first church building was a small wood-frame building. The congregation began construction of a new building in 1883; the brick building was not completed until 1889. The church began serving the broader African American community on October 3, 1887, when it hosted the first registration of students for Alabama State University, a historically black college.{{cite web|url=http://www.dexterkingmemorial.org/about/history/

In 1899, William H. McAlpine became pastor; he was a cofounder of Selma University. Vernon Johns, an early leader of the Civil Rights Movement, served as pastor from 1947 to 1952. He was succeeded by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was pastor of the church from 1954 to 1960. He organized the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott from his basement office.

Near the church is the former Dexter Parsonage, which served as home to twelve pastors of the church between 1920 and 1992. It is now operated as the Dexter Parsonage Museum, interpreting church history. The church was added, on its own merits, to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Behind the church is the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Legacy Center, on 455 Washington Avenue. The courtyard has a statue of Dr. King.

Gallery

Montgomery December 2018 44 (Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church).jpg|Exterior Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church & Parsonage, Montgomery, Alabama LCCN2010637401.tif|Interior Montgomery December 2018 65 (Dexter Avenue King Memorial Legacy Center).jpg|Dexter Avenue King Memorial Legacy Center Dexter Baptist Pastorium Apr2009 01.jpg|Dexter Parsonage Museum

References

(2007-09-18). "Dexter Avenue Baptist Church". National Park Service.
{{NRISref. 2007a
Marcia M. Greenlee. (July 1973). ["National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Dexter Avenue Baptist Church"]({{NHLS url). National Park Service}} and {{NHLS url.
UNESCO World Heritage Convention, Tentative Lists, Civil Rights Movement Sites, https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5241/ (Referenced 6 Dec 2016)
Edgemon, Erin. (June 3, 2015). "Martin Luther King Jr.'s former Montgomery church seeking to erect statue in his honor". AL.com.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

national-register-of-historic-places-in-montgomery,-alabama national-historic-landmarks-in-alabama churches-on-the-national-register-of-historic-places-in-alabama religious-organizations-established-in-1877 baptist-churches-in-alabama churches-in-montgomery,-alabama montgomery-bus-boycott african-american-history-in-montgomery,-alabama gothic-revival-church-buildings-in-alabama italianate-architecture-in-alabama civil-rights-movement-museums 1877-establishments-in-alabama italianate-church-buildings-in-the-united-states

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