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A resolution honoring the 160th anniversary of First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill of Nashville.
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WHEREAS, First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill is Tennessee's first Black congregation and the state's oldest historically Black church; and
WHEREAS, First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill originated from the First Baptist Church, Nashville, which in 1834 first allowed black members both enslaved and free to attend and hold monthly prayer meetings. The Black congregation were first permitted to hold separate church services in 1848; and
WHEREAS, in 1865, the Black congregation of First Baptist Church successfully petitioned for its independence. The church was formed, then known as the First Colored Baptist Church; and
WHEREAS, at the Tennessee State Colored Men's Convention in October 1865, the church's founding pastor and delegate Nelson G. Merry called for full citizenship and suffrage as a part of reconstruction; and
WHEREAS, in their early years the church grew quickly, having up to 2,800 members less than twenty years after its founding. After the death of its pastor, Rev. Nelson G. Merry, due to internal disputes the congregation split into multiple churches; however, the First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill remained; and
WHEREAS, in March 1951, the congregation's longest serving pastor, Rev. Kelly Miller Smith, Sr., began his ministry at the church. During his tenure as senior pastor, Rev. Smith became president of the local chapter of the NAACP and founded the Nashville Christian Leadership Council, a local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Council; and
WHEREAS, under the leadership of Rev. Kelly Miller Smith, Sr., First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill became a home for Nashville's Civil Rights Movement. The church supported the campaign to desegregate Nashville public schools, hosted non-violent action training for the Nashville sit-in movement, and helped to finance the Freedom Rides in 1961. The church hosted Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., for m...
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