Generations have passed through Historic First Baptist Church of Williamsburg, Va., over more than two centuries, but its calling as a witness to the contributions of Black people in American history has remained unchanged, Pastor Reginald F. Davis said.
The church founded in 1776 by free and enslaved Black worshipers celebrated its 250th anniversary this month. It was a milestone representing the resiliency of its founders, its current membership and those who worshiped in between.
Reginald Davis
“It’s the same role, because if you have pushed people to the margins of society, and if you make people feel that white supremacy is the thrust of the nation, that all the things we have done to help build the nation are getting buried, then we are where our ancestors were in terms of trying to educate a present generation and succeeding generations that the fault line of our democracy is race,” Davis said.
In 1776 as today, the congregation’s responsibility resides in communicating that America was founded on the forced labor of Black people and without whose contributions the U.S. would not have become the superpower it is, he added. Telling that story rests heavily on First Baptist given its founding during the Revolutionary War and the tenuous condition of democracy today.
Davis said it is also part of his calling to keep his congregation focused on that aspect of the church mission.
“I do my best to keep encouraged, to keep them fired up because the work goes on toward what our Founders said when they talked about creating ‘a more perfect union.’ But it does not stop with us, because we have to pass on this history of resilience and determination and hope to the next generation because the story must continue.”
Archaeologists discovered a cemetery near the church site and have placed markers showiing where graves were found. (Photo courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)
The historical significance of the church for Williamsburg, the state and the country were center-stage during the four-day celebration of the congregation’s semiquincentennial anniversary, which included the dedication of its newly excavated and reconstructed African Baptist Meeting House and Burial Ground on South Nassau Street Oct. 9.
The location was the site of church’s home for at least 100 years before being demolished to make way for a parking lot, sending members to the current location on West Scotland Street in 1956.
Also commemorated during the service were the 63 burials recorded on the site as the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the College of William and Mary, the Let Freedom Ring Foundation and the historic church collaborated on the 2020 excavation and eventual reconstruction of the original 1805 meeting house. Ground was broken for the project in 2025.
Guests join in prayer during the dedication of a restored meeting house in Colonial Williamsburg. (Photo courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)
But this was not the congregation’s first location. Members initially met on a plantation, then in a brush shelter before moving to the Nassau Street location donated by Jesse Cole, a white merchant.
It was an especially precarious time to be a Black Christian in America, said Connie Harshaw, president of the Let Freedom Ring Foundation, a nonprofit that partners with First Baptist to preserve and advocate for the historic site.
“You have to put this story in its context. It was illegal to teach them (slaves) to read and write, it was illegal for them to gather, and they risked their lives to worship their God,” said Hershaw, who is a member of the church.
The arrangement with Cole caused some nervousness and division within the congregation, especially among those who suspected the businessman’s generosity to be a ploy to monitor free and enslaved Blacks as they worshiped. Others believed him to be a man of faith who wanted his Black neighbors who be able to worship safely.
“That issue sort of hindered the community but it also brought the community together in other ways,” she said. “We don’t know exactly what happened, but we have facts that say the Cole family donated the land, and we’ve got facts that say Gowan Pamphlet, who risked his life to preach for this congregation, built a church where people were coming whether or not they felt safe. But the Cole family was not without danger because this was a white merchant who I’m sure had a lot of people asking questions about why he was helping these Black worshipers.”
That’s another parallel between the earliest First Baptist congregation its descendants today, Hershaw added. “We do have security at the door. We are a historic Black church and there are people who are against African American churches and so on Sunday mornings the first person I am greeted by is a guard who is carrying a weapon.”
But it is encouraging, she noted, that the City of Williamsburg, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the college routinely invite the church to the table for conversations on the community’s future, and that authorities consulted the congregation on security matters ahead of the 250th anniversary celebration.
“We need to try to heal, and we’re hoping that by doing this work — the excavations, restoring the meeting house and talking about these things — that we’re doing that we can as a church to be an example for the nation and for Virginia,” she said.
Ronald Johnson
But living into the example set by the founders of Historic First Baptist Church is a tall order, said Ronald Angelo Johnson, a professor of history at Baylor University: “Remember, what these Black people were doing was founding a church in opposition to the established church at that moment, the Anglican church. And they were doing it as a Baptist church, as well. That’s a huge moment.”
They did so with plenty of opportunities to be exposed, he added. “White people certainly knew the congregation existed and yet the church survived with 200 to 300 people collaborating with the community around them.”
And in some ways, many of those challenges remain, Johnson said. “When this congregation was founded, this country was enslaving people. Fast forward to today and we are still dealing with racial issues and racial hostility. Celebrating it 250th anniversary was an intentional act to let the country know that they are here to tell a more complete story about this country’s history.”
Related:
Voices of freedom continue to speak from Colonial Williamsburg church
How we’re learning to see and hear the Black experience at Colonial Williamsburg | Analysis by Ella Wall Prichard