Second African Baptist Church
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Greene Square
Savannah, Georgia
| Second African Baptist Church | |
|---|---|
| Second Colored Church (formerly) | |
 The building in 2022 | |
| Location | 123 Houston Street Greene Square Savannah, Georgia |
| Country | United States |
| Denomination | Baptist |
| Website | www.secondafrican.org |
| History | |
| Founded | December 26, 1802 |
| Architecture | |
| Years built | 1926 |
| Administration | |
| Division | National Baptist Convention, U. S. A. Inc. |
| Subdivision | General Missionary Baptist Convention of Georgia, Inc. |
Second African Baptist Church | |
| Part of | Savannah Historic District (ID66000277) |
| Added to NRHP | November 13, 1966[1] |
Second African Baptist Church is a church in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Located in the northwestern trust/civic block of Greene Square, at 123 Houston Street, the church was founded on December 26, 1802,[2] twenty-five years after the city's First African Baptist Church, as the First Colored Church.[3] Its first pastor was Rev. Henry Cunningham (1759–1842), who served from 1802 to 1833.[3] The church building was constructed in 1926.[4]
In 1823, the First Colored Church and Second Colored Church were renamed First African Baptist Church and Second African Baptist Church.[3]
In 1864, United States Army general William Tecumseh Sherman issued Special Field Orders No. 15 just outside Savannah. A short time later, general Rufus Saxton publicly spoke to members of this church on the provisions of Sherman's offer, which became known as "forty acres and a mule."[2] Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and Sherman were guests in the church following the surrender of Savannah on December 21, 1864. Just under a century later, in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" sermon here, an address he repeated in Washington, D.C., later in the year.[2]
The church is affiliated with the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. (the second-largest Baptist organization in the world, after the Southern Baptist Convention), and the General Missionary Baptist Convention of Georgia, Inc.
