Second African Baptist Church

The story

Second African Baptist Church stands at 123 Houston Street on Greene Square in Savannah. Its congregation was organized on December 16, 1802 by members of First African Baptist Church, with Henry Cunningham, a formerly enslaved man who became a preacher and businessman, as its first minister. It was renamed Second African Baptist in 1823.

Savannah surrendered on December 21, 1864. After Sherman met local Black leaders, he issued Special Field Order 15 on January 16, 1865. On February 3, Union officer Rufus Saxton explained the order to freedpeople at the church. Its promise of land, later known as forty acres and a mule, was afterward revoked.

The present church building dates from the 1920s; accounts differ on whether it was finished in 1925 or 1926. One account holds that Martin Luther King Jr. gave his I Have a Dream sermon at the church in 1963, before repeating it in Washington.

What's There Now

The congregation still worships at 123 Houston Street on Greene Square.

Everything that was here

• 1925–present · still open

  Second African Baptist Churchchurch

  In February 1865 a Union general came to this Savannah church to announce Sherman's order promising freed families land, the origin of 'forty acres and a mule.'

  See the map in 1926 →
• 1802–1925

  Second African Baptist Church (Founded)Church

  Founded in 1802 by members of First African Baptist, this Savannah congregation was first called the First Colored Church.

  See the map in 1803 →

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