"I HAVE GATHERED UP THE FRAGMENTARY FACTS OF OUR HISTORY, AND AM NOW TRUSTING OUR HEAVENLY FATHER MAY APPROVE THE MISSION OF THIS VOLUME": FIRST EDITION OF OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE FIRST AFRICAN BAPTIST CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, PA

BROOKS, Charles H. Official History of the First African Baptist Church Philadelphia, Pa. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Charles H. Brooks, 1922. Slim octavo, original blue cloth. $450.

First edition of this history of Philadelphia's First American American Baptist Church, founded by ex-slaves in 1809.

This book offers the history of Philadelphia's First African Baptist Church, which was founded by 13 ex-slaves who split off amicably from the mostly white First Baptist Church of Philadelphia. The Church, the fifth Black congregation in Philadelphia, moved to four locations in Spring Garden and what is today Chinatown before eventually settling into an architect-designed building at 16th and Christian. The area, today designated the Christian Street Black Doctors' Row Historic District, housed mainly middle-class Black families. Which their help, the First African Baptist Church flourished, becoming an important source of social, educational, and economic support for Philadelphia's Black community. While the building was deemed unsafe by the city in 2015 and forced the church to move to West Philadelphia, the First African Baptist Church stood at the center of an important Philadelphia community for over 100 years. This volume includes that history through 1923 (and the creation of the purpose-built church).

Mild toning to interior and slight offsetting to front endpapers, slight rubbing and minor toning to extremities. An extremely good copy.