History
The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church congregation was organized in 1877 and was first known as the Second Colored Baptist Church. The church trustees paid $270 on January 30, 1879 for a lot at the corner of what is now Dexter Avenue and Decatur Street. The first church building was a small wood-frame building, it began to be replaced by the current structure in 1883. The new brick building was not completed until 1889. The church began serving the broader African American community on October 3, 1887 when it hosted the first registration of students for Alabama State University. This community service continued into the 20th century with activities associated with the American Civil Rights Movement. Vernon Johns, an early leader of the Civil Rights Movement, served as pastor from 1947 to 1952. He was succeeded by Martin Luther King, Jr. He was pastor of the church from 1954 to 1960 and organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott from his basement office.
Near the church is the Dexter Parsonage Museum, which served as home to twelve pastors of the church between 1920 and 1992. It was added, on its own merits, to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
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“We aspire to be something more than stupid and timid chattels, pretending to read history and our Bibles, but desecrating every house and every day we breathe in.”
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