PASTORS OF THE FIRST AFRICAN BAPTIST CHURCH, FRANKLIN SQUARE, SAVANNAH, GA., U. S. A. COMPLIMENTS OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRTY FIRST ANNIVERSARY, JANUARY 20, 1919

[Savannah, 1919. Folio, 11" x 15" printed and illustrated broadside, depicting with oval portraits the eight pastors of this Church, from 1788. Several extremity chips. One chip just touches the upper portion of the title word "P" in "Pastors." One closed tear touches the oval border of Pastor Love's portrait. Some spotting. Good. In a contemporary wood frame [not examined out of frame]
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This Anniversary broadside presents halftone oval portraits of the Church pastors. Each is numbered and identified in print beneath the portraits, with the statement that the First African Baptist Church, founded in 1788, "is the oldest Negro church in America, (truncated) and has one of the largest memberships in the United States."
Reverend E.K. Love, whose portrait appears in the broadside, the Church's minister from 1885-1900, published the History of the Church 1n 1888. The Baptist Clergyman Love was born in slavery in Alabama. "His most distinctive work and greatest influence came in his pastorate of the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, which he served from Oct. 1, 1885, until his death [in 1900]. This was probably the largest Baptist church in the world and the oldest negro Baptist church in the United States. He not only increased its membership, but broadened the scope of its work" [DAB].
OCLC appears to record facsimiles only as of March 2024. (Inventory #: 40925)