Corey Rogers
Photos courtesy of Kelvin Jackson
It is the church that was birthed on the banks of the Savannah River. It is a foundational church as much as a transformational one. It set the standard that many African-American churches would later follow.
On the one hand, it held fast to its primary tenet of spiritual growth for parishioners, and on the other, it served as an incubator for political and educational development.
This year marks the 237th anniversary of Springfield Baptist Church, which many historians argue is the oldest African-American Baptist church in the United States. It is one of Augusta’s crown jewels.
The Early Days
In the late 18th century, a young preacher from the Silver Bluff community, Jesse Peters Galphin, began making religious inquiries in Augusta. Shortly afterward, proselytizing efforts led to the formation of Springfield Baptist Church in 1787. The church eventually grew to nearly 1,000 members between the ministries of Jesse Peters Galphin (1787-1814), Caesar McCredey (1815-1818) and Jacob Walker (1819-1846).
The Blacks of Augusta’s post-Revolutionary War period made Springfield the focal point of their spiritual nourishment and social development. It became an epicenter for a thriving and diverse community of color that included harness-makers, brickmakers, boatmen, blacksmiths, carpenters, tailors, nurses, seamstresses, teachers, preachers and other professionals. Both free and enslaved persons inhabited the Springfield community.
The Antebellum period saw the first of Springfield’s daughter churches come into existence near the eastern boundary of the city: Independent Baptist was born in 1840. To “give thanks to their bountiful blessings,” four years later, Independent was changed to Thankful.
Thankful would prove to be a powerful spiritual and cultural force on the west side of the city, hosting luminaries such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. Union — another daughter church of Springfield — would boast such members as John Hope, the first African-American president of Morehouse College, and Frank Yerby, one of the most accomplished authors of the 20th century.
Reverend Doctor Eric Biddy, (Rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church) and Reverend Hardy Bennings III (seated), pastor of Springfield Baptist Church, lead a joint worship service. 
The Springfield Baptist Church Sanctuary Choir pauses rehearsal to take a picture. 
Civil Rights Activist Reverend Al Sharpton served as the keynote speaker for Springfield Church’s 225th Anniversary.
“[Springfield] represents the struggles and the successes of our ancestors.”
— Deacon Walter Wright
Post-Civil War Years
In the post-Civil War years, celebrations of freedom became a staple in many African-American churches. Watch Night, occuring on New Year’s Eve, in the African-America tradition is a celebration of freedom from slavery. Watch Night took on a completely different tone and tenor during and after the Civil War as African Americans used the last few hours of the year to ring in a new beginning and to celebrate Lincoln’s Proclamation.
Equally as important was Emancipation Day, also centered around January 1, 1863. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Springfield hosted Emancipation Day services with festivities including recitations of the Emancipation Proclamation, food, plenty of preaching and speeches. Local notables such as administrator A. R. Johnson and Tabernacle minister and author Reverend Silas X. Floyd spoke at these affairs.
After the 15th Amendment was passed, African-American men began to leverage their political power through the ballot. This political mindset led to the formation of the Georgia Equal Rights Association in 1866, the foundation for what became the Republican Party of Georgia.
A few years later, William Jefferson White established the Augusta Baptist Institute. In 1869, another of Springfield’s daughter churches, Harmony, was established by Reverend White and the school moved to Harmony. Future leaders like Reverend C.T. Walker, founder of Tabernacle Baptist Church, and Reverend Emmanuel K. Love, pastor of First African Baptist Church in Savannah, were trained at the school.
In 1879, the Augusta Baptist Institute moved to Friendship Baptist Church in Atlanta and by 1913, it became known as Morehouse College. In 1880, Ware High School, the first public high school for African Americans in Georgia, was also established in the Springfield community.
Springfield Baptist Church 
Today’s Impact
The wood-framed structure, called the St. Johns Building, its major center of worship from 1844 to 1902, speaks to the church’s longevity and ability to thrive in Antebellum Augusta. The brick exterior reflects its parishioners’ embrace of modernity. Reverend George Dwelle (1885-1912) led the church into the new century, building a church that today can seat nearly 450 people.
In 2002, Springfield Village Park was dedicated, and Chicago-based artist Richard Hunt was commissioned to do two public art sculptures: The Tower of Aspiration in 2002 and They Both Went Down Into The Water in 2006.
The 237-year-old church, alongside the park, stands as a testament to the spiritual growth and cultural development of a people who faced many pitfalls, dangers, ups and downs, but whose faith never wavered. The church and its surroundings were a microcosm of complex layers of history and culture that speak to Black and white communities, as well as the privileged and humble dynamic where African Americans found themselves from the Colonial period through much of the 20th century.
Quoted in The Augusta Chronicle for the 225th anniversary of the church in 2012, Reverend Hardy S. Bennings said, “I am overjoyed with the possibilites of what can happen here. We’ve really opened ourselves up to have an impact in the community. Blacks, whites, all colors, creeds, it’s my vision to open the church up across all boundaries.”
Today, Springfield maintains an active congregation. It conducts in-person Sunday services and Bible studies via Zoom weekly. Deacon Walter Wright says that despite dwindling numbers, Springfield still has a bright future. He goes on to say, “Springfield is important because it represents this area’s beginning and development of the Black community from the time our nation was born …. It represents the struggles and successes of our ancestors.” So long as the doors remain open and the people come, Springfield will endure.
Tracing Springfield’s Influence
W.E.B. Du Bois 
Springfield’s daughter church, Union Baptist Church 
Movie director Spike Lee
Thankful Baptist Church helped organize nonviolent protests for equality during the civil rights era. A leading scholar and Black intellectual of the era, W.E.B. Du Bois, before becoming director of publicity and research for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), spoke at Thankful Baptist Church in 1898.
Springfield’s daughter church, Union Baptist Church on Greene Street, was home to one of the most accomplished Black authors, native Augustan Frank Yerby. Three of his books, The Foxes of Harrow (1946), The Golden Hawk (1948) and The Saracen Blade (1952) were made into films. Yerby was the first Black author to have Hollywood buy and adapt his books into movies.
Influential local leaders Reverend C.T. Walker, founder of Tabernacle Baptist Church, and Reverend Emmanuel K. Love, pastor of First African Baptist Church in Savannah, were trained at the school that William Jefferson White established as Augusta Baptist Institute. The school was moved to Harmony Baptist Church in 1869.
The first public high school for African Americans, Ware High School, was established in the Springfield community.
Founded in the basement of Springfield Baptist Church in 1867, Morehouse College is a historically Black all-male undergraduate institution with some of the nation’s most prominent graduate leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., and U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, movie director Spike Lee and Olympic gold medalist Edwin Moses.
Sidebar photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Seen in the November/December 2024 issue of Augusta magazine
