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Built in 1948, under the guidance of Reverend J. H. Stenson, Peace Baptist Church is eligible for listing in the National
Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, as one of the leading churches involved in the Alabama Christian Movement for
Human Rights (ACMHR) in the Civil Rights era. It meets the registration requirements for Criterion A as a strategy center as
found in the Birmingham's Civil Rights Movement, 1933-1978 MPS .
Rev . Dr . John H. Stenson became pastor of Peace Baptist Church in 1947 and he gathered the funds and plans to build a
new large brick church, to serve his rapidly expanding post-World War II congregation. The construction of the new church
began on June 3, 1948. As designed, it was the last major gable-front twin-tower black church in Birmingham .
Due to its proximity to downtown, the Civil Rights activism of Dr . Stenson, and its large meeting space, Peace Baptist Church
became one of the early congregations involved in the ACMHR. According to an interview with former ACMHR secretary Lola
Hendricks, conducted by the Birmingham Historical Society, Peace Baptist Church supported the ACMHR in its early years of
1956-58. 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:
The influence of the African-American church and its peculiar culture on the ACMHR stands out most vividly in the
organization's weekly mass meetings. These meetings were essentially African-American church worship services.
The meetings began with a thirty-minute devotional service made up of prayers, spirituals, and meter hymns,
followed by singing by the ACMHR choir. The presider, usually ACMHR vice-present, the Reverend Ed,tvard
Gardner, offered brief remarks. A local supporting pastor delivered a sermon. President Shuttlesworth then made
some remarks and the ushers took up the offering. The meetings were very emotional with much shouting .. . The
emotionalism of the mass meetings, as in an African-American church, provided not only emotional release but also
the courage to fight the forces of segregation in a hostile environment. (Fallin, 15-16)
Furthermore, the mass meetings were important tools of oral communication for a society that had few other public options,
since open discussion of civil rights strategies over the airwaves or in print could provoke severe reactions from white
extremists. Furthermore, activists knew that to reach the core working-class residents of their neighborhoods, meetings in
the churches were much more effective venues than print or electronic media. It was thus at the churches where activists,
often a combination of local ministers, community leaders, and the occasional visitor from another Civil Rights hotbed,
relayed the important messages and key strategies to be debated and carried out. The churches were safe havens in an
often hostile environment.
Dr . Stenson served as minister at Peace Baptist until 1969 and his church was active in the 1960s events associated with the
Civil Rights Movement. The church hosted a ACMHR meeting on Apri123, 1962. The meeting ; led by Rev . Ed Gardner and
secretary Georgia Price, encouraged continued commitment to the downtown "selective buying" campaign. Rev . Gardner
even asserted that those who continued to shop downtown in defiance to the boycott were little more than traitors to AfricanAmerican
pride and identity.
During the Project C confrontation of April-May 1963 , many members of the congregation played an active role; the building
was located west of downtown, but within easy walking or quick driving distance to Kelly Ingram Park, the center of the
demonstrations. The church was a place where the congregation discussed its involvement in the demonstrations and a
place where residents and members gathered before proceeding downtown to the Kelly Ingram Park area.
Peace Baptist Church meets the registration requirements for Criterion A as listed in the Birmingham's Civil Rights
Movement, 1933-1979 MPS. The church was an important strategy center for the ACMHR and members of the congregation
played an active role in the early mass meetings of the ACMHR, the Selective Buying Campaign of 1962, and the Project C
demonstrations of 1963.
Object Description
Description
| Title | PeaceBaptist001 1 |
| Transcript | Built in 1948, under the guidance of Reverend J. H. Stenson, Peace Baptist Church is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, as one of the leading churches involved in the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) in the Civil Rights era. It meets the registration requirements for Criterion A as a strategy center as found in the Birmingham's Civil Rights Movement, 1933-1978 MPS . Rev . Dr . John H. Stenson became pastor of Peace Baptist Church in 1947 and he gathered the funds and plans to build a new large brick church, to serve his rapidly expanding post-World War II congregation. The construction of the new church began on June 3, 1948. As designed, it was the last major gable-front twin-tower black church in Birmingham . Due to its proximity to downtown, the Civil Rights activism of Dr . Stenson, and its large meeting space, Peace Baptist Church became one of the early congregations involved in the ACMHR. According to an interview with former ACMHR secretary Lola Hendricks, conducted by the Birmingham Historical Society, Peace Baptist Church supported the ACMHR in its early years of 1956-58. 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: The influence of the African-American church and its peculiar culture on the ACMHR stands out most vividly in the organization's weekly mass meetings. These meetings were essentially African-American church worship services. The meetings began with a thirty-minute devotional service made up of prayers, spirituals, and meter hymns, followed by singing by the ACMHR choir. The presider, usually ACMHR vice-present, the Reverend Ed,tvard Gardner, offered brief remarks. A local supporting pastor delivered a sermon. President Shuttlesworth then made some remarks and the ushers took up the offering. The meetings were very emotional with much shouting .. . The emotionalism of the mass meetings, as in an African-American church, provided not only emotional release but also the courage to fight the forces of segregation in a hostile environment. (Fallin, 15-16) Furthermore, the mass meetings were important tools of oral communication for a society that had few other public options, since open discussion of civil rights strategies over the airwaves or in print could provoke severe reactions from white extremists. Furthermore, activists knew that to reach the core working-class residents of their neighborhoods, meetings in the churches were much more effective venues than print or electronic media. It was thus at the churches where activists, often a combination of local ministers, community leaders, and the occasional visitor from another Civil Rights hotbed, relayed the important messages and key strategies to be debated and carried out. The churches were safe havens in an often hostile environment. Dr . Stenson served as minister at Peace Baptist until 1969 and his church was active in the 1960s events associated with the Civil Rights Movement. The church hosted a ACMHR meeting on Apri123, 1962. The meeting ; led by Rev . Ed Gardner and secretary Georgia Price, encouraged continued commitment to the downtown "selective buying" campaign. Rev . Gardner even asserted that those who continued to shop downtown in defiance to the boycott were little more than traitors to AfricanAmerican pride and identity. During the Project C confrontation of April-May 1963 , many members of the congregation played an active role; the building was located west of downtown, but within easy walking or quick driving distance to Kelly Ingram Park, the center of the demonstrations. The church was a place where the congregation discussed its involvement in the demonstrations and a place where residents and members gathered before proceeding downtown to the Kelly Ingram Park area. Peace Baptist Church meets the registration requirements for Criterion A as listed in the Birmingham's Civil Rights Movement, 1933-1979 MPS. The church was an important strategy center for the ACMHR and members of the congregation played an active role in the early mass meetings of the ACMHR, the Selective Buying Campaign of 1962, and the Project C demonstrations of 1963. |
