First Baptist Church, North
The First Baptist Church was founded by Raiford Blount shortly after the Civil War. After his church on Second Street burned, the congregation split and formed two churches: the First Baptist Church, Amulet and the First Baptist Church, North. First Baptist Church, North was a site of Civil Rights activities and voter registration in the 1950s and 1960s. Local residents remember Thurgood Marshall visiting the church.
During the days of the ‘50s and ‘60s, what stands out in my mind and in my memory was the First Baptist Church on North Street. At that time [it] was the headquarters, [it] was an organization of many social clubs … [or] civic organizations. The voters in the Civic League, the Young Men’s Business Club, Dr. [E. A.] Johnson, Ben D. Johnson, those men worked hard to get men of the town together. They would meet at the First Baptist Church, North Street. Many times Mr. J.K. Haines, Mr. Thurgood Marshall have been at meetings, secret meetings in the First Baptist, North Street.
Urbach Collection, Box 15, 1952, CHRC