First Baptist Church in Williamsburg

A photograph taken about 1900 depicts the old First Baptist Church on Nassau Street in Williamsburg. When the brick church was dedicated in 1856, it was called the African Baptist Church and its African American preachers were subordinate to white ministers. After the Civil War, black ministers took over leadership of the congregation and changed its name to the First Baptist Church. In 1957 the congregation moved to a new building on Scotland Street in Williamsburg.