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St. Peter Primitive Baptist Church
2115 Fourth Avenue North, Bessemer, AL
Text by Carroll Van West 2003
St. Peter Primitive Baptist Church is a significant property associated with the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham from 1956 to 1958. The church is also important for its association with with African-American a capella gospel singing and for its mid-twentieth century Gothic Revival design in an Alabama African-American church.
This congregation was founded in 1903 and by 1911 had built its first building, a gable-front frame meetinghouse with a square bell tower, on this lot in downtown Bessemer. The pastor leading the new building was Reverend Jack Daniel, with trustees W. Jackson, R. Lewis, and T. Patterson. During World War II, in 1943, due to the growth of the congregation and the African-American population in general during the war years, the congregation demolished the old building and completed the present building under the leadership of a young, energetic pastor, Rev. William A. Clark. He served as pastor until 1962. Rev. William A. Clark was a fixture in the town’s African-American community for contributions to cultural, religious, and social traditions. The new building created one of the largest public interior spaces for African Americans in Bessemer. It provided the setting many times of performances from various groups who specialized in a capella gospel singing—a major contribution that Birmingham area performers have made to American gospel music. Groups that have performed here include the famed Sterling Jubilee Singers (once known as the CIO Singers), the Starlight Jubilee Singers, and the Four Eagle Gospel Singers.
Of the groups, the Sterling Jubilee Singers are viewed as the most significant and are closely associated with the church. The Sterling Jubilee Singers began in 1929 and became known as the CIO Singers, for their association with the labor movement in the steel mills during the 1930s. They were politically active and performed at union meetings and conventions. Historian Robin Kelley has emphasized how groups such as the Sterling Jubilee Singers legitimized protest songs as part of the distinctive music arising out of local African-American churches during the 1930s and 1940s. John Alexander (1914-2001), a native of Greene County, worked at the Bessemer steel mills and served as the secretary of the Male Chorus of St. Peter Primitive Baptist Church. He took over the leadership of the Sterling Jubilee Singers and served as the group’s president/manager for many years until the group formally ended regular performances with a farewell concert at the Bessemer City Auditorium on October 7, 1979.
The use of the church as a performing venue led to Rev. Clark installing ticket booths on either side of the vestibule, features that remain extant in 2004. Rev. Clark established a popular Sunday morning radio show on WJLD (which became the nation’s second all Black-staffed radio station when purchased by the George Johnson family in 1944) in 1944-45, and became a mainstay on the station. After Clark ended his program, Deacon Richmond Davis of St. Peter Primitive Baptist continued the tradition. Indeed, it was Deacon Davis who in the mid-1950s nicknamed Rev. Nelson Smith of New Pilgrim Baptist Church as the “Fireball” for the fiery sermons on God and civil rights that the young minister gave on a regular basis.
Rev. Clark and church leaders such as Deacon Davis supported the ACMHR movement. In its 1958 annual report, the ACMHR listed the church among a number of others “where we have met—so many times” and where the doors had been “generously opened for us.” In this listing, the ACMHR asserted that “This is a people’s movement—of all the people. Nothing stops the people from enthusiastically coming each night to sing, pray and to give. These are Mass heroes.” Historians of the Civil Rights Movement have long discussed the intersection of faith and activism in the mass meetings held at various Birmingham churches. Historian and Baptist minister Wilson Fallin, Jr., emphasized:
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| Title | St Peter PB 1 |
| Transcript | St. Peter Primitive Baptist Church 2115 Fourth Avenue North, Bessemer, AL Text by Carroll Van West 2003 St. Peter Primitive Baptist Church is a significant property associated with the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham from 1956 to 1958. The church is also important for its association with with African-American a capella gospel singing and for its mid-twentieth century Gothic Revival design in an Alabama African-American church. This congregation was founded in 1903 and by 1911 had built its first building, a gable-front frame meetinghouse with a square bell tower, on this lot in downtown Bessemer. The pastor leading the new building was Reverend Jack Daniel, with trustees W. Jackson, R. Lewis, and T. Patterson. During World War II, in 1943, due to the growth of the congregation and the African-American population in general during the war years, the congregation demolished the old building and completed the present building under the leadership of a young, energetic pastor, Rev. William A. Clark. He served as pastor until 1962. Rev. William A. Clark was a fixture in the town’s African-American community for contributions to cultural, religious, and social traditions. The new building created one of the largest public interior spaces for African Americans in Bessemer. It provided the setting many times of performances from various groups who specialized in a capella gospel singing—a major contribution that Birmingham area performers have made to American gospel music. Groups that have performed here include the famed Sterling Jubilee Singers (once known as the CIO Singers), the Starlight Jubilee Singers, and the Four Eagle Gospel Singers. Of the groups, the Sterling Jubilee Singers are viewed as the most significant and are closely associated with the church. The Sterling Jubilee Singers began in 1929 and became known as the CIO Singers, for their association with the labor movement in the steel mills during the 1930s. They were politically active and performed at union meetings and conventions. Historian Robin Kelley has emphasized how groups such as the Sterling Jubilee Singers legitimized protest songs as part of the distinctive music arising out of local African-American churches during the 1930s and 1940s. John Alexander (1914-2001), a native of Greene County, worked at the Bessemer steel mills and served as the secretary of the Male Chorus of St. Peter Primitive Baptist Church. He took over the leadership of the Sterling Jubilee Singers and served as the group’s president/manager for many years until the group formally ended regular performances with a farewell concert at the Bessemer City Auditorium on October 7, 1979. The use of the church as a performing venue led to Rev. Clark installing ticket booths on either side of the vestibule, features that remain extant in 2004. Rev. Clark established a popular Sunday morning radio show on WJLD (which became the nation’s second all Black-staffed radio station when purchased by the George Johnson family in 1944) in 1944-45, and became a mainstay on the station. After Clark ended his program, Deacon Richmond Davis of St. Peter Primitive Baptist continued the tradition. Indeed, it was Deacon Davis who in the mid-1950s nicknamed Rev. Nelson Smith of New Pilgrim Baptist Church as the “Fireball” for the fiery sermons on God and civil rights that the young minister gave on a regular basis. Rev. Clark and church leaders such as Deacon Davis supported the ACMHR movement. In its 1958 annual report, the ACMHR listed the church among a number of others “where we have met—so many times” and where the doors had been “generously opened for us.” In this listing, the ACMHR asserted that “This is a people’s movement—of all the people. Nothing stops the people from enthusiastically coming each night to sing, pray and to give. These are Mass heroes.” Historians of the Civil Rights Movement have long discussed the intersection of faith and activism in the mass meetings held at various Birmingham churches. Historian and Baptist minister Wilson Fallin, Jr., emphasized: |
