First Baptist Church Williamsburg was started in 1776 when a group of enslaved and free blacks met in secret under a brush arbor at Greenspring Plantation to worship, sing, and pray. It was organized as a Baptist Church in 1781under Reverend Gowen Pamphlet, an enslaved man who served as pastor for decades. The Church survived despite racist laws, a tornado, the forced removal from its original site to where it sits today and attempts to bury the history and impact of this historic church and congregation. On this edition of Another View, what you can learn and experience as the Church celebrates its 250th anniversary. Joining Barbara Hamm Lee in the studio was Reverend Dr. Reginald Davis, the Executive Director and Former Chair of The Board of the Let Freedom Ring Foundation, Ms. Connie Mathews Harshaw, renowned historian and endowed professor of Virginia Black History and Culture at Norfolk State University, Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander, and British Kenyan singer and songwriter Sarah Ikumi, who is set to perform at the Let Freedom Ring Gala on October 10th. This, and all Another View programs can be heard on demand on the show's program page.
250th Anniversary of First Baptist Church Williamsburg
