History of Springfield

National Historic Landmark Criteria

 A, B, and C.

 Springfield Baptist Church is eligible under Criterion A for the events of its history as a black religious and cultural institution within the historic Springfield community.  It is eligible under Criterion B because of the heroic efforts of David George, George Liele, and Jesse Peters to bring the Christian religion to early African American people.

 Criteria Considerations

 A and D.

 Springfield Baptist Church consists of two historic religious buildings significant for architecture and black history, and also includes a burial site associated with the church's history.

 Period of Significance

 The period of significance for Springfield Baptist Church is 1773 to 1945.  This period began with the 1773 founding date of the Baptist Church at Silver Bluff and includes the construction date of the earlier building in 1801 and the building's history of use up through 1897.  It also encompasses the period of significance for the later building from its construction date of 1897 to the 50-year cut-off date of 1945.

 8. Narrative Statement of National Significance/Developmental History

 Springfield Baptist Church is of national significance because it is the oldest African-American church in the United States; because it is an example of the determination of African-Americans to be independent during the slavery era; because the Georgia Republican Party originated there; because Morehouse College, which has produced so many nationally prominent black leaders, was founded there; and finally because the Springfield Church stands today as proof that African-American's too can look to history with pride in their achievements.  Springfield proves that history holds alternatives to the African-American identity of victimization.  The religious expression of the Great Awakening, particularly that of the Separate Baptists, proved to be congenial to the needs of African-Americans and as a threshold to the merging of African and American cultural traditions.  As the first African-American church of any denomination, Springfield memorializes that historic cultural event.

 The Springfield Baptist Church is also significant in terms of the architectural, religious, and social/humanitarian history of Augusta and Georgia.  Built in 1801 (although subsequently remodeled and moved), is is the oldest extant church building in Augusta and one of the oldest in the State of Georgia.  Originally built to house Augusta's first Methodist Society, since 1844 it has been the home of the Springfield Baptist Church.  The 1897 building is architecturally significant as a good example of a late-19th century Late Victorian Gothic brick church structure.  These two structures stand as a symbol of the importance of this black religious institution within the surrounding Springfield community.

 National Significance of the Springfield Baptist Church as the oldest African American Church in the United States

 The history of Springfield begins with the remarkable story of David George, a slave who escaped from a cruel master in Essex County, Virginia.  He fled to the Pee Dee River district of South Carolina and worked there until white friends warned him that slave hunters from Virginia were searching for him.  David George fled to Georgia and worked near Augusta for two years until the importunate slave hunters again inquired about him.  This time he went deep into Indian country in his relentless quest for freedom, only to be tracked and claimed as a prisoner by a Creek Chief named Blue Salt who returned George to Augusta.  Incredibly, the son of his former master waited to claim him and reward the Indian.  George proved too resourceful for the Virginian; he escaped again and found his way to the country of the Chickasaws beyond that of the Creeks.  A chief named King Jack adopted him, then sold him to an employee of the well-known Indian trader, George Galphin.  For three years, David George lived as a cowboy, herding horses and cattle and processing deerskins.  Once a year he led a caravan of horses laden with skins to Galphin's plantation at Silver Bluff, twelve miles below Augusta on the Carolina side of the river.  Preferring the routine of the plantation to the uncertainties of the frontier, George asked to be allowed to remain at Silver Bluff.  Galphin agreed and David George abandoned his wandering.  Galphin allowed preachers to conduct prayer services on his plantation.  One of these itinerants, Wait Palmer, a white preacher from Connecticut, found willing listeners in David George and his friends.  Palmer formed eight of them into a church, including George and Jesse Peters.  George Liele preached to the Silver Bluff community after the church was constituted by Wait Palmer.  Because George Liele dated his own conversion as two years before the Revolution, Silver Bluff's origin must have been in 1773, if not earlier.  Revolutionary violence broke out in backcountry Georgia in 1775.  The war put an end to visits to Silver Bluff by outsiders; thereafter, David George did the preaching.  When the British army advanced up the Savannah River to Augusta in 1779, David George and a large group of Galphin's slaves  sought freedom with the British.  David George and George Liele, a slave belonging to a Baptist deacon named Henry Sharp, organized the refugees into a church in Savannah.  When the British evacuated Savannah, Liele went to Jamaica and David George led a contingent of former slaves to Shelburne, Nova Scotia.  After twelve years in that cold climate, George embarked on a final migration to Sierra Leone and established a Baptist church there.

 Two Savannah churches have long claimed primacy in Georgia.  First African and First Bryan date to January 20, 1788, when Reverend Abraham Marshall, white, and the Reverend Jesse Peters Galphin, black, ordained Andrew Bryan and organized a church at Brampton Barn, three miles southwest of Savannah.  More recently, First African has advanced its founding date to approximately 1773, the date which marks the conversion of George Liele.  Although Liele preached at various places, he had no church and no congregation other than membership in Big Buckhead Baptist Church, presided over by white Matthew Moore.  Only after he fled to the protection of the British in Savannah in 1779 did Liele organize a church.  After the war Liele and some of his followers went with the British Loyalists to Jamaica.

 Crucial to Springfield's history is the fact that Jesse Peters Galphin, one of the founders of Silver Bluff and a member of the refugee church in Savannah, returned to Silver Bluff and slavery.  Fortunately, Thomas Galphin proved to be as lenient a master as his father George had been and Jesse Peters began preaching in Augusta as well as Silver Bluff as early as 1783. In 1926, Springfield Sister Anna  Cecil Houston stated that her great-grandfather Dick Kelly offered his home in Augusta for church services two years after the Revolution.  John Asplund, an early chronicler of Baptist history, recorded that there were 180 members of Peters' church, about half of whom were in Augusta by 1790.  In 1793, Peters secured his freedom from Thomas Galphin and took up permanent residence in Augusta.

 The distinguished black historian Walter Brooks concluded that "the oldest Negro Baptist Church in this country today is that at Augusta, Georgia, having existed at Silver Bluff, South Carolina, from the period 1774-1775 to the year 1793, before becoming a Georgia institution."  Carter G. Woodson, an equally respected historian, concurred.  In fact, in Woodson's chronology of African churches of all denominations, Silver Bluff-Springfield is named the oldest.  More recently, Mechal Sobel confirmed the designation.  Sobel listed 497 members of the Augusta church by 1803.  A letter written by Jesse Peters in 1798 indicates that his congregation met together without hindrance or opposition from the white people of Augusta.

 Springfield served as Augusta's only Baptist church until white First Baptist was organized in 1820, and the only black church until the establishment of Springfield's daughter church, Thankful Baptist, in 1840.  Under Pastor Jacob Walker Springfield's membership climbed to over a thousand, making it the largest church, white or black, in the Georgia Baptist Association.  White historian David Benedict preached at Springfield several times and commented on the excellent singing.  The growing congregation acquired the 1801 Methodist Church building and moved it to the corner of Twelfth and Reynolds Streets in 1844.  The structure still serves as Springfield's educational building.  Under Jacob Walker, Springfield formed a missionary society and some of its members went to Liberia, forming a lasting connection between the Augusta and Liberian churches.

 Springfield continued to grow under Walker's successor, Kelly Lowe.  Lowe's status was that of a slave until his congregation purchased his freedom in 1860 and paid him a salary of $1,000.  When Lowe died in 1861, 1200 persons, white and black, marched in his funeral procession.

 Springfield and its daughter churches, Thankful and Central, provided succor and guidance to the hundreds of former slaves who crowded into Augusta after the Civil War.  As the senior institution, Springfield also provided leadership.  On January 10, 1866, thirty-eight delegates from eleven Georgia counties answered the invitation of Pastor Henry Watts and met at Springfield.  An honored guest on the occasion was General Davis Tillson, head of the Freeman's Bureau.  The delegates addressed a petition to the Georgia legislature, asking for inclusion on juries, civil treatment on railroads and the right to vote.  They passed a resolution asking for legal recognition of black men's "full dignity of manhood."  Before adjourning, the convention established the Georgia Equal Rights Association, the forerunner of the Republican Party in Georgia.  John Emory Bryant, Freedman's Bureau agent, served as president of the GERA and helped transform it into the Union Republican Party of Georgia.  Two Springfield men, William J. White and Simeon Beard, served on the district committee.  Pastor Watts acted as chairman of the Republican Campaign Club of Augusta.

 Another incident of major importance happened at Springfield in 1867.  The National Theological Institute, based in Washington, D.C., offered to supply teachers for black children if Augustans provided the building.  Pastor Watts and William J. White organized the Augusta Baptist Institute at Springfield on February 14, 1867, with thirty-seven students.  By April 1868, sixty students enrolled, too many for Springfield's church to accommodate.  With the blessing of Henry Watts, William J. White founded Springfield's third daughter church, Harmony Baptist and moved the school there in 1869.  After several administrators came and went, Dr. Joseph Robert took charge of the school in 1871 and built it into a sound and respected academic institution. In 1879, the Institute moved to Atlanta Augustan John Hope, the Atlanta Baptist Institute became Morehouse College.  Many African-American alumni have become nationally prominent; Martin Luther King, Jr. among them.

 Meanwhile, the Georgia Education Commission, founded at Springfield, pressed for public schools for black children.  The one positive achievement of the short-lived Georgia Republican government of 1870 consisted of an act establishing public schools.  The law required counties to afford education for black children as well as white under the assumption that the schools would be racially separated.  During the first year of operation the Richmond County Board started eight primary schools for white children, four for black, four intermediate for white and three for blacks and two white grammar schools and one black.  Over 400 black children advanced through primary and intermediate grades.  On October 1, 1878, a delegation of black citizens politely but firmly reminded the Board of Education that it had a legal obligation to establish a high school for black children because the Board supported a high school for whites.  In October 1879 Ware High School, a pioneer institution among public schools for black children, opened its doors to thirty-seven students under the capable direction of Richard Wright.  The school was located on the same block on which Springfield was situated.

Henry Watts' death ushered in a rapid change of pastors. In 1879, a faction separated from Springfield to form Union Baptist Church on Greene Street.  In 1885, a native son of Springfield assumed the duties of pastor in the person of George Dwelle.  Under his leadership, Springfield began a lengthy process in 1897 of constructing a new brick church.  The historic old church, shorn of its bell tower, was turned to face Reynolds Street.  by 1899 only the foundations had been built.  In 1905, the church borrowed from the Irish-American Bank to complete the work.

 Rev. James Nabrit, who succeeded George Dwelle in 1913, managed Springfield well while he and his wife reared a remarkable family.  James M. Nabrit, Jr. obtained a law degree from Northwestern University and went on to become dean and later president of Howard University.  He assisted Thurgood Marshall in arguing the Brown vs. Topeka Decision.  Ironically, the Brown Decision reversed the court's ruling in 1899 which permitted the Richmond County Board to close Ware High School while keeping white high schools open.  Samuel Nabrit served President of Texas Southern University from 1955 to 1966.  Cecelia Nabrit became the first woman and first lay person to be named executive director of the Sunday School Publishing Board of the National Baptist Convention.

 Springfield received recognition from the City of Augusta during the celebration of the City Bicentennial in 1935.  Organizations marched in the parade according to the chronological order of founding.  Delegates from Kiokee Baptist marched first, the Freemasons second and the Springfield members proudly marched third in line before the Fire Company, the Mechanics Association and all the other church and civic groups.

 As people moved away from the downtown neighborhoods Springfield Church has managed to survive.  It both demands and deserves to be maintained and its people have been loyal, even heroic in their sacrifices to preserve the church and its historic buildings.  Under the pasorate of Emmett Martin, Springfield began to attract the attention of historians, architects and preservationists.  Historic Augusta, Inc. secured a grant in 1980 to fund a study of the St. Johns Building by Atlanta architect Norman Davenport Askins.  The excitement of discovery showed in Askins' report, "The old Springfield Baptist Church house is one of Augusta's most important and probably least known major historical monument."  The National Register status was applied for and granted by the United States Department of the Interior on June 17, 1982.

 Church members, encouraged by such recognition, raised $275,000 to restore the old structure to its original appearance.  On June 25, 1989, the Church presented the restored building to the public.  In 1990, the 1897 brick church also received a National Register listing. A delegation from Morehouse College helped dedicate a cast iron marker reciting Springfield's history.  In 1995 Augusta Tomorrow, Inc., a leadership group, in cooperation with Springfield and Historic Augusta, Inc., revealed ambitious plans for a green park setting for the church.

 When visitors first hear about Springfield they express surprise that something so old could have survived.  When they learn about its role in the formation of the Georgia Republican Party and in the beginnings of Morehouse College, they are impressed.  As historians focus more attention on black history and social history in response to public demands, Springfield's fame will grow.  It stands modestly but proudly as an affirmation of the right of black people to a fair share of historical attention.  The church buildings, nearing one hundred and two hundred years old, speak to the passerby on behalf of pastors from Jesse Peters to E. T. Martin and of all the congregations who have worshipped there.  Springfield says simply, "We were here.  We are here.  We belong."

 Architectural Significance

 In the area of architecture, Springfield Baptist Church is significant for both the 1801 wood-framed church building used by the congregation from 1844 to 1897 and the 1897 brick church building constructed by the congregation to better serve the church's needs.

 Architecturally, the Springfield Baptist Church's 1801 structure is a relatively rare example of the late-eighteenth/early-nineteenth-century non-liturgical or "New England meetinghouse" type of church in Georgia.  It is similar in many respects to the well-known Midway Congregational Church (1792) in Liberty County, south of Savannah (listed on the National Register as part of the Midway Historic District in 1973).  With regard to its design, materials, construction techniques, and craftsmanship, the church represents principles and practices of early-nineteenth-century American religious architecture.  Its simple overall design and sparse detailing reflect a self-conscious denial of ornate Anglican-inspired church architecture characteristic of early-nineteenth-century Methodist (and Congregationalist) doctrine.  Its basic assembly-hall plan, with balconies, was likewise a direct response to non-liturgical church services.  Its heavy timber frame, hand-planed wainscoting boards, and plastered walls with hand-split lath represent early-nineteenth-century building materials and methods; the balustraded balcony, doorways, other moldings and the vestibule with its winding stairs, on the other hand, represent a more mid-nineteenth-century approach to architecture.  The only major structural loss to the building is the early-nineteenth-century front tower; its appearance, in its original form and as extended later in the nineteenth century, is documented in several historic views of the church.

 In terms of religion, the original Springfield Baptist Church building has a dual historical significance.  It was originally a Methodist church, building 1801 by Augusta's first Methodist Society during the period of pronounced dissatisfaction with the Anglican-derived church in Georgia.  Stith Mead, a radical non-liturgicalist who had been denied preaching privileges in Augusta's St. Paul's Church in 1798, spearheaded the formation of a pious Methodist Society and the construction of this church.  In 1803 and 1804, Bishops Asbury and Coke visited Augusta as part of a Methodist effort to organize in the South, and their presence helped stabilize the new congregation.  Two decades later, the church, now successful, expanded its building commensurate with its local religious role.  Two decades after that, the congregation outgrew this facility entirely and built a new brick church.

 In 1844, when the Methodists outgrew their original building, they sold it to the Springfield Baptist Church, which moved it to its current location in what was then the predominantly black section of Augusta.  The Springfield Baptist Church is the oldest independent black congregation in the United States; at the time it acquired this building, it was already more than fifty years old.  In Augusta, the Springfield Baptist Church has always been an independent congregation, although in 1829 it was associated temporarily with the white First Baptist Church after a period of racial unrest involving the burning of black churches.  Throughout the nineteenth century, the Springfield Baptist Church played an important role in Augusta's religious history, spanning the change in mid-century from black slavery to free citizenship.  In 1897, the congregation outgrew its wood-framed building and moved it to the rear of the lot to make way for a new brick structure.  Since then, the old wooden church has served as an auxiliary  building housing offices, meeting rooms, and activity centers.

 In terms of the social/humanitarian history of Augusta and Georgia, the original Springfield Baptist Church building has served as a principal black cultural institution for over 200 years, a remarkable record considering that Georgia was founded less than 250 years ago.  For over three-quarters of this time, the Springfield Baptist Church has been associated with this church building.  The historic role of black churches as major social and cultural institutions is well known, as is the role of the black church building as an important community landmark.  The Springfield Baptist Church is no exception.  In addition to serving local black religious, social, and cultural needs, the church helped bridge the transition between slavery and free citizenship in Augusta and stood as a focus of black community life.  The church also helped establish other important black institutions in the nineteenth century; these include several churches in and around Augusta, Cedar Grove Cemetery in Augusta, the Georgia Equal Rights Association, and Morehouse College (originally the Augusta Baptist Institute).

 The fact that the 1801 meeting house building was moved in 1844 does not diminish its architectural or historical significance.  In fact, the move documents a key moment in the evolution of the church as it is provided a permanent structure in which the congregation could take pride.  Furthermore, this kind of property transaction, the acquisition, and relocation of an originally white church by a black congregation, is common in Georgia's religious and racial history.  This particular instance seems to have been a relatively early and possible precedent-setting example.

The 1897 building is architecturally significant as a good example of a late-nineteenth-century Late Victorian Gothic, brick church structure.  The rectangular brick structure with two front towers, gabled main roof with parapet walls, tower buttresses and steeply pitched pyramidal roofs, and pointed-arch windows and entrances are characteristic Late Victorian Gothic features.  The building also retains its historic stained glass windows.  The interior remains relatively intact with plaster walls, beaded wood wainscoting, and cove ceiling covered with decorative pressed leads up to the platform where the bell is located.  The building's design features were typical of many urban black churches built during the late churches were much simpler and smaller structures, quite a number of urban black churches were elaborately styled and architect-designed, such as Springfield.

 The 1897 building is also significant as the work of Albert Whitner Todd (1856-1924), an architect living and working in Augusta at the time.  Todd was from Anderson, South Carolina, and began his architectural career there around 1877.  He moved to Augusta about 1889 to continue his architectural practice and worked there until moving to Charleston, South Carolina, around 1899, where he maintained an office until his death in 1924.  He also served in the South Carolina state legislature from 1910 to 1924.  There in 1917 he introduced a bill to define and regulate the practice of architecture.  He was a charter member of the South Carolina chapter of the American Institute of Architects and served as its president from 1915 to 1916.

 Preservation interest in the historic Springfield Baptist Church is high.  The congregation and the local preservation organization are of the church constituted the first major effort by Historic Augusta, Inc. to involve itself in the minority history of the city.  On behalf of the congregation, Historic Augusta applied for and received a matching consulting grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation; a preservation plan and adaptive-use study of the building has been completed.  Springfield Village Park Foundation Inc. has now been formed founders, and its national significance.  This nomination will confirm the cultural, architectural, and historical national significance of the church and enhance its preservation potential.

 National Social/Humanitarian Significance

 In the area of black history, the Springfield Baptist Church is nationally significant as an important black religious institution in the Springfield community.  This area of significance includes and supplements the areas of religious and social/humanitarian significance for the 1801 building.  The 1897 church building is significant as the second building on this site used by the Springfield congregation.  Throughout  the nineteenth century, the church played an important role in Augusta's religious history, spanning the change in mid-century for blacks from slavery to free citizenship.  This important role continued into the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with the construction of a new brick church building beginning in 1897.  With this larger and more imposing brick structure, the congregation continued to play a very significant religious, social, and cultural role within the black community of Springfield.  The burial sites of several former ministers in the church's front lawn attest to the importance of the church's religious a major community landmark, and the congregation an important community institution.  The Springfield Baptist Church buildings are two of the last surviving buildings of the historic Springfield community.

 Significant Dates

 1773 - David George (with Wait Palmer) formed the first Black church in America at Silver Bluff, South Carolina.  Jesse Peters Galphin was a charter member of this congregation.

 1783 - Jesse Peters Galphin began preaching in Augusta, as well as Silver Bluff.

 1793 - Jesse Peters was freed and took up permanent residence in Augusta as the congregation transitioned to Augusta.

 1801 - The Meeting House was constructed by the congregation of St. John Methodist Church on Greene Street.

 1844 - The St. John's Meeting House was moved to the Springfield Baptist site at Twelfth and Reynolds.

 1867 - Augusta Baptist Institute was formed by Pastor Henry Watts and William J. White.  The Institute moved to Atlanta as the Atlanta Baptist Institute and later under the presidency of Augustan John Hope, as Morehouse College.

 1867 - Under the leadership of Pastor Watts, a convention of Black delegates established the Georgia Equal Rights Association.  John Emory Bryant transformed this into the Union Republican Party of Georgia.

 1879 - Springfield's Pastor Watts pioneered the opening of Ware High School, the first black public high school in Georgia.

 1897 - The construction of the new Late Victorian, Gothic brick church commenced under Pastor George Dwelle.

 Major Bibliographical References and Sources

 The Georgia Historical Society's Library at Savannah provided several valuable sources for this study.  The accounts of George Liele and David George are in Alex Pringle, Prayer for the Revival of Religion in All the Protestant Churches (Edinburgh, 1796).  George Liele's letters are in John Rippon, D.D., The Baptist Annual Register for 1790, 1791, 1792 and Part of 1793 (London, 1793).  The controversy between First African and First Bryan can be traced in Emmanuel K. Love, A History of the First African Church from Its Organization, January 20, 1788 to July 1, 1888 (Savannah, 1888); James M. Simms, The First Colored Baptist Church in North America (Philadelphia, 1888), and Edgar G. Thomas, The First African Baptist Church of North America (Savannah, 1925).  First African's Souvenir Journal 1988 is celebratory rather than scholarly.

 Crucial to the claims of Springfield's priority are two studies.  Walter H. Brooks, "The Priority of the Silver Bluff Church and its Promoters" in Journal of Negro History (April 1922) and Carter H. Woodson, The History of the Negro Church (Washington, 1921).  Woodson, the distinguished editor of The Journal of Negro History, listed the oldest black churches in the United States with Silver Bluff-Springfield the oldest. Mechal Sobel's Trabelin' On: The Slave Journey to an Afro-Baptist Faith (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1779) is an excellent study of African religious traditions.  Wait Palmer is identified as an itinerant preacher from Toland, Conn. who converted Shubal Stearns, Daniel Marshall's brother-in-law. In the chronological listing of black churches in the appendix a congregation on William Byrd's Virginia plantation precedes Silver Bluff, however, it is noted that the Virginia church did not last.  Pertinent to the origins of the Savannah and Augusta churches are "Letters Showing the Rise and Progress of Early Negro Churches in Kingston, Jamaica and Savannah, Georgia," Journal of Negro History (January, 1916), and Robert G. Gardner, "Primary Sources of Eighteenth Century Georgia Baptist History, Viewpoints: Georgia Baptist History (1980).

 Other histories of black churches consulted for this study include: E. Franklin Frazier, The Negro Church in America (New York, 1963), Carol V. R. George, Segregated Sabbaths: Richard Allen and the Emergence of Independent Black Churches, 1760-1840 (New York 1973).  The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City provided several sources, among them:  Lewis G. Jordan, Negro Baptist History, U.S.A. 1750-1930 (Nashville, Tenn.: Sunday School Publishing Board, 1930); Clarence M. Wagner, Profiles of Black Georgia Baptists (Atlanta: Bennett Brothers Printing Co., 1980); Leroy Fitts, A History of Black Baptists (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1985).  A complete bibliography is Ethel L. Williams and Clifton T. Brown, The Howard University Bibliography of Africans and Afro-American Religious Studies (Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1977).

 The Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, provided several useful sources for this study including the Seaborn Jones Papers, the diary of Mary Eliza Eve Carmichael, the Susan Nye Huchinson Journal and the Susan Fisher Papers.  Duke University has the complete journal of Gertrude Clanton Thomas which gives a fascinating insight into the antebellum and Civil War era.  An excellent edited version of the journal is Virginia Ingraham Burr's The Secret Eye, The Journal of Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas, 1848-1889 (Chapel Hill, 1990).  Frederika Bremer wrote about black Augustans in her Homes of the New World (New York, 1853).  Another less famous woman visitor to Augusta wrote her impressions of black people, Lillian Foster in Way-side Glimpses North and South (New York, 1859).  Letters from black Augustans to the American Colonization Society are in Carter G. Woodson, ed., The Mind of the Negro as Reflected in Letters Written During the Crisis, 1800-1860 (Washington, D.C., 1926).  Augustus Baldwin Longstreet painted an unflattering picture of the village of Springfield in Georgia Scenes (New York, 1859).  Travelers' accounts of antebellum Augusta are in Mills Lane, ed., The Rambler in Georgia (Savannah, 1973).  The same editor documented slavery in Mills Lane, ed., Neither More Nor Less Than Men: Slavery in Georgia (Savannah, 1993).  Pertinent material can be found in: Robert Starobin, Denmark Vesey: The Slave Conspiracy of 1822 (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1970; John B. Boles, ed., Masters and Slaves in the House of the lord: Race and Religion in the American South (Lexington, KY: 1988); Janet Duitsman Cornelius, "When I Can Read My Title Clear": Literacy, Slavery and Religion in the Antebellum South (Columbia, S.C., 1991); Asa H. Gordon, The Georgia Negro: A History (Ann Arbor, 1937); and William J. Harris, "A Slaveholding Republic: Augusta's Hinterland Before the Civil War," (Ph.D. dissertation, Johns Hopkins University, 1981).

 The best book about Augusta during the Civil War is Florence Fleming Corley's Confederate City (Columbia, S.C., 1960).  Also useful is Berry Fleming, ed., Autobiography of A City in Arms: Augusta, Georgia, 1861-1865 (Augusta, 1976).

 The Reconstruction era is momentous in Springfield's history.  Fortunately, there are fine studies touching upon Springfield's involvement:  Edward A. Jones, A Candle in the Dark, A History of Morehouse College Valley Forge, 1967), and Ruth Currie McDaniel, Carpetbagger of Conscience: A Biography of John Emory Bryant (Athens, 1987).  Original sources include surviving copies of three Augusta newspapers: The Colored America, The Loyal Georgia and The Georgia Baptist.  The first two deal with the Reconstruction period.  The third with the last two decades of the century.  Charles Stearns, a northern missionary, wrote about his troubles in Columbia County in The Black Man and the Rebels (Boston, 1872).  Other original accounts are in Mills Lane, ed., Standing Upon the Mouth of a Volcano: New South Georgia (Savannah, 1993).  A relevant study is John M. Matthews, "Negro Republicans in the Reconstruction of Georgia," Georgia Historical Quarterly, Volume 60 (1976).

 The various African Methodist churches have not been treated in this history.  However, two fine recent studies provide new information on the black Methodist churches in Augusta.  they are Daniel W. Stowell, "'The Negroes Cannot Navigate Alone': Religious Scalawags and the Biracial Methodist Episcopal Church in Georgia, 1866-1876" and Glenn T. Eskew, "Black Elitism and the Failure of Paternalism in Postbellum Georgia: The Case of Bishop Lucius Henry Holsey".  The two studies appear as chapters in John C. Inscoe, ed. Georgia in Black and White: Explorations in the Race Relations of a Southern State, 1865-1950 (Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1994).

 An authoritative account of the Ware High School case is J. Morgan Kousser, "Separate but not Equal: The Supreme Court's First Decision on Racial Discrimination in Schools," The Journal of Southern History (February 1980).  A major player on the Augusta stage wrote about his travels in Charles T. Walker, D.D., A Colored Man Abroad, What He Saw and Heard in the Holy Land and Europe (Augusta, 1892).

 This history drew upon Dr. Edward J. Cashin, Jr.'s The Quest: A History of Public Education in Richmond County (Augusta, 1984) and The Story of Augusta (Augusta, 1980).  The officers of the Pilgrim Life Insurance Company made their records available for an earlier study; those notes proved helpful in this history.

 Some of Springfield's Minutes survive.  Four volumes span the years 1888 to 1926, but are incomplete.  We wish to thank Mrs. Mamie Dunn for allowing us to peruse the church papers in her possession.  Especially valuable was the collection of Springfield related material belonging to church historian Miss Theodosia Edwards.  There have been several efforts to record Springfield's rich history, an anonymous history in 1926, Theodosia Edwards' history in 1950, Rev. Emmett Martin's and Nellie C. Waring's in 1979, and Betty Anderson's in 1987.  Each one builds upon the other and all testify to Springfield's conscientious concern about its past.  The problem all of these histories suffered from is the lack of extant records prior to the 1880s.  The details of the  founding years, therefore, are vague.  Norman Davenport Askins added important architectural history in reference to the St. John's Building in his Springfield Baptist Church, Augusta, Georgia (Augusta, 1980).  The historical section by Mary Beth Read in Volume One of "And They Went Down Both Into the Water" is a superior study of part of the Springfield neighborhood.  J.W. Joseph acted as principal investigator and author of the impressive three volume archaeological report.

 The Augusta Bicentennial Pageant Book (Augusta, 1935) contained still another history of the church, and chronicled its role in the city celebration.

The thesis that black churches provided an entree into American culture has stirred controversy.  Sociologist E. Franklin Frazier and historian John Blassingame emphasize the influence of white culture upon slaves, while Sterling Stuckey argues that blacks maintained African traditions under cover of Christianity.  Charles Joyner wisely concludes that a merger occurred between African and American traditions.  See Charles Joyner, "'Believer I Know': The Emergence of African American Christianity" in Paul E. Johnson, ed. African-American Christianity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994).

 10. Boundary Description/Justification

 The boundary for the Springfield Baptist Church encompasses the entire 1.0-acre lot that constitutes the current church property.  This property is identified as lots #80, #85, #86, and #91 with frontage on Reynolds Street and Twelfth Street on the attached tax map.  The current address is listed as 114 Twelfth Street.

 In the absence of intact historic boundaries, these boundaries simply circumscribe the historic structures at their current location.

 To the north, east, south and west is a mix of a residential and commercial development mostly of a contemporary nature.  Springfield Village Park Foundation Inc., a 501 (c) (3) corporation has been formed to acquire 1.5 additional acres to the north, east and south of the current church property, to develop a park commemorating the national significance of the Springfield Baptist Church.  To date, over $315,000 has been donated by private foundations and other sources to finance this construction.  Approximately three-fourths of an acre of land has already been acquired.

 UTM References

 Zone                Easting             Northing

17                    409690            3704580

 This UTM reference is for the total 1.0-acre property.

 Form Preparation

 This nomination is submitted on behalf of the Springfield Baptist Congregation by a committee of Augustans concerned with the national significance of the Springfield Baptist Church.  Committee members include:

 Reverend Emmitt Martin, Pastor, Springfield Baptist Church

 Isaac Johnson, Historian, Springfield Baptist Church

 Dr. Edward J. Cashin, Jr., Ph.D., Professor of History, Augusta College

 Erick D. Montgomery, Executive Director, Historic Augusta, Inc.

 Susan Rice, Former Director, Greater Augusta Arts Council

 W. Hale Barrett, Esq., Senior  Partner, Hull, Towill, Norman & Barrett, P.C.

 Anne S. Floyd, Historic Preservation Planner, CSRA  Regional Development Center.

 H. M. Osteen, Jr., Chairman of the Board and CEO, Bankers First Savings Bank; President, Augusta Tomorrow, Inc.

 Robert P. Kirby (Chair), President, Castleberry's Food Company; President, Springfield Village Park Foundation, Inc.

 Dr. Cashin recently completed exhaustive and compelling research of the history of the Springfield Baptist church and the evolution of the African-American culture through the Black slavery era to that of free citizenship.  Augusta and Springfield Baptist Church have played a central and proactive role in this struggle.  This nomination draws heavily on Dr. Cashin's research and his soon to be published manuscript Old Springfield: Race and Religion in Augusta, Georgia (1995).



 
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"Still Standing On God's Promises 217 Years Later

Springfield Baptist Church
114 Twelfth Street
Augusta, GA 30901

PH: 706-724-1056,
FAX: 706-724-1633

 Email: HistoricSpringfi@aol.com

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