Collection The Decatur House Slave Quarters
In 1821-1822, Susan Decatur requested the construction of a service wing. The first floor featured a large kitchen, dining room,...
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This article is part of the Slavery in the President’s Neighborhood initiative. Explore the Timeline
The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington D.C. was founded in 1802, shortly after Washington D.C. became the federal seat of government.1
On July 5, 1801, a group of Baptists met in the Treasury Building for a preaching service led by Rev. Lewis Richards of Baltimore. Eight months later, the First Baptist Church was organized with six founding members on March 7, 1802.2
OBADIAH BRUEN BROWN
Brown served as pastor of First Baptist from 1807 until his retirement in 1850. As was common with early Baptist churches, Brown conducted his ministry without receiving financial compensation from the church. For income, Brown worked for the U.S. Post Office, ultimately becoming chief clerk to Postmaster Generals William T. Barry (1829-1835) and Amos Kendall (1835-1837) during the presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829-1837).5
Brown’s social and political connections certainly made him an influential citizen of the District. However, the ways in which Brown leveraged those connections on behalf of the enslaved and free Black members of his church remains unclear. By 1818, Brown was involved with the American Colonization Society (ACS), a group formed to send free African Americans to Africa. The emigration policy of the ACS created an eclectic organization of abolitionists, slave holders, free Black people, evangelicals, and white people who wished to rid the United States of its Black population.10
Brown’s attitudes toward the institution of slavery are better understood by his role as an enslaver. Throughout his time in Washington, Brown enslaved at least six individuals. By 1830, Brown enslaved four people, including a mother and daughter purchased from James Roche of Charles County, Virginia. According to the bill of sale, Roche sold Sally (age 30) and Kitty Bell (age 3), to Brown. The bill of sale also included specific references to Simon Bell, husband to Sally and father of Kitty, and General John P. Van Ness, Simon’s enslaver.12
ENSLAVED PERSONS AND FREE BLACK PEOPLE AT FIRST BAPTIST
Enslaved persons made up a significant portion of First Baptist’s membership during the antebellum period. When enslaved individuals joined the church, their race, status, and slave owner’s name was included in the record. In many cases, the slave owners identified in the membership records of enslaved persons were themselves members of First Baptist, though a number of enslaved persons joined the church of their own volition. On May 9, 1819, an enslaved woman named Susan and identified as a “Servant of President Monroe” joined the church.14
Free Black people also comprised a sizeable portion of First Baptist’s membership. Much like enslaved persons, free Black individuals were identified by their race and status in church records. One prominent free Black family to join First Baptist were the Wormleys. Mary and Lynch Wormley moved to Washington in 1814 from Albemarle County, Virginia, where they had lived adjacent to the Coles family, which included Sarah Coles, the cousin of Dolley Madison. Mary joined the church in 1818, while Lynch did not join until 1839. The Wormleys’ son, James (the founder of the famous Wormley Hotel near Lafayette Square), also joined the church and was married by Brown in 1841. Click here to learn more about Mary and Lynch Wormley.
Paul Jennings also joined First Baptist as a free Black man, though he was still enslaved at the time of his original petition for membership. Jennings was born on the estate of James and Dolley Madison in 1799. During Madison’s presidency, Jennings worked as a valet and dining room servant in the President’s House.16
Throughout the antebellum period Black people, both enslaved and free, found a religious home at First Baptist. The first African American to join First Baptist was Rhoday Hampton in 1803.18
First Baptist also encouraged literacy amongst its membership, establishing a Sabbath School in 1819 that included African-American members despite opposition from the Baltimore Baptist Association of which First Baptist was a member.21
LIMITATIONS ON BLACK MEMBERSHIP AND SEPARATION
Despite the inclusion of African Americans at First Baptist, the church still reflected many of the same racial prejudices of the time. During services, separate seating was designated for African Americans in galleries at the back of the church. As the church grew in the early 1820s, the galleries were extended to seat the growing number of African-American members. Some members even proposed altering the stairway to the entrance of the church to provide a separate outside entry to the galleries, though this alteration was never implemented.24
The most consequential division between white and Black members at First Baptist came in 1834 with the construction of a new church building on Tenth Street, at the future site of Ford’s Theatre. First Baptist’s continued growth in membership necessitated a larger meeting house and they wanted to select a site at the center of the city. As Washington D.C. grew during the early decades of the nineteenth century, the city’s center developed southeast of First Baptist, around the Capitol Hill area. Brown had moved to E Street N.W. in 1821, two blocks from where the new church was ultimately constructed.27
“We are satisfied that in our present situation we enjoy as high privileges as our Heavenly Father sees good for us to enjoy, and that it will be better for us and for the cause of Christ to have the fellowship and counsel of our white brethren in Church matters than to forego them by separation; and as we are not aware of any cause why we should separate nor of any benefit which will be likely to result from the measure, we desire to retain our standing in the Church to which we now belong, and not to be considered as among those who desire to withdraw.”30
The letter was signed by nineteen African-American members. When the members who desired to separate presented their request to the church, an additional eleven names were added in opposition to the letter’s request.31
The formation of a Black Baptist church in the city greatly impacted First Baptist’s African-American membership. By 1852, only forty-four African Americans were listed as members of First Baptist, compared to over 100 members in the 1830s. Still, of the forty-four members listed, twenty-one joined the church after the formation of First Colored Baptist, including both enslaved persons and free Black people. For some, like Paul Jennings who joined in 1848, the social and political influence of First Baptist may have influenced the decision to stay with the segregated church.
CONCLUSION: DIFFERING BLACK EXPERIENCES
The history of First Baptist and the experiences of the church’s enslaved and free Black members underscore the precarious position of African Americans in the President’s Neighborhood. For enslaved persons and free Black people who joined First Baptist, the church offered a semi-integrated religious community and an essential social network for African Americans forced to navigate the hazards of a slave society. A relationship with the influential Obadiah Brown and other prominent church members could have provided social and economic advantages or opportunities, particularly for free Black members like the Wormleys and Paul Jennings. The reluctance by some African American members to separate from First Baptist and the continued membership of free Black people after the formation of First Colored Baptist at the very least indicates a perceived advantage of remaining with the church. Additionally, separating from the church’s white membership was a risky endeavor. As late as 1862, Washington’s Slavery Code placed restriction on enslaved persons and free Black people, including a prohibition against African-American religious groups meeting after ten o’clock in the evening.35
The decisions made by enslaved persons and free Black members certainly varied. Many enslaved persons were not afforded the opportunity to decide between remaining a part of First Baptist or separating to meet exclusively with other African Americans. Enslaved persons owned by white slaveholding members may have been prohibited from leaving the church. Furthermore, after the move from Nineteenth Street, enslaved persons who joined independently of their enslavers were almost certainly unable to travel to Tenth Street for services. Free Black people who had enough autonomy to decide where they wanted to worship were able to make the calculation between the advantages of associating with First Baptist and the independence that came with worshipping in the Black church. While many remained with First Baptist, records indicate that the majority of enslaved persons and free Black people, when given the choice, preferred to pursue autonomy and freedom rather than to remain in an integrated yet segregated church.
Thank you to Janice Osborn and Ellen Parkhurt for their research assistance and insight.
About the Author
Kristofer Roberts is a Ph.D. Candidate in history at the University of Alabama. His research interests include nineteenth-century America, religious history, and African American history. He received his B.A. from Samford University and a Master of Divinity from the Chandler School of Theology at Emory University.
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