Old African Baptist Church on Nantucket

A PLAN HAS BEEN ADVANCED FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE OLD AFRICAN BAPTIST CHURCH ON NANTUCKET By

Edouard A. Stackpole

A few weeks ago, a letter arrived with the information that a campaign has been organized by a resident of Cambridge, Mass., whereby a fund is being raised to restore the original African Baptist Church at the corner of Pleasant and York Streets. The Property is now owned by William Higginbotham, a resident of Oakland, California, who has had some work done on the old structure, but who lacks the necessary funds to complete the project. Another supporter of the plan for a complete restoration is Byron Rushing, of the Museum of Afro-American History, who visited Nantucket some eight years ago, and discussed the restoration.

The old Church was organized in 1827, after its original erection in 1826 as a school for the black population on Nantucket. The land on which the building was built was purchased from Jeffrey Simmons, and conveyed to the Trustees of the African Baptist Society, as follows: Peter Boston, Absalom Boston, Michael DeLuce, and Charles Godfrey. After four years the African Baptist Church was reorganized, and successfully completed the task. An old document tells the story, under date of May 24. 1831:

The Lord having in his Providence cast the lot of those whose names are hereafter found as the Constituent members of the African Baptist Church on this Island, for from the Churches to which some of us formerly belonged, we felt it our duty and principally to become a district Baptist Church. Pursuant to these impressioned on our minds we sent for Elder Seth Emers of Martha's Vineyard and Edward Harris of Hyannis, Barnstable, Pastors of Baptist Churches in these Places, to take it into consideration, and in their opinion we were entitled to church privileges, to reorganize us as such. Accordingly they came, and after hearing us relate our Christian experiences and religious views, they have it as their opinion that we ought to become a distinct Church, .....we were then publicly reorganized as the African Baptist Church, and received the hand of fellowship by Elder Harris and an address by Elder Emers. They then administered the Lord's Supper. The following

are the names who constituted the Church at the beginning: John Barber. Mary Marsh, Charles Godfrey, Hannah C. Boston, Rhoda Boston, Sarah Dennison, Sarah Deluce, Charlotte Groves, Friscilla Thompson." The Church was re-organized again in April, 1848, on April the 7th. The Clerk at this meeting was the Rev. O.T. Walker, and the Rev. Tubal Wakefield, who with Sampson Alvin came from the Mashpee Church, became the Minister who preached on this occasion. The Rev. Wakefield was a visitor from the Second Barnstable Church on Cape Cod. From the Summer Street Baptist Church in Nantucket came the Rev. Reuben Jeffery Deacon, Alexander Swain, Watson Holmes, Stephen Easton, William C. Folger and Seth E. Swain, all members of the white fraternity.

The area on Atlantic Avenue, Lower Pleasant Street, and on Silver Street was at this time known as "New Guinea." A second church for black residents had been erected on York Street, just above the African Baptist Church in 1835, called the Zion Methodist Episcopal Church. Arthur Cooper, an escaped slave, was an early minister in this church. The story of his rescue from a sheriff, who had come from Virginia to capture him, and ultimate escape, at his house on Angola Street, has appeared in past issues of Historic Nantucket. In 1823, the school for black children in the new schoolhouse on the corner of Pleasant and York Streets, had grown and 30 children were counted in 1828. The teacher was Anna Gardner, the daughter of Captain Alfred Gardner of Orange Street, who was a favorite for a quarter of a century, and who went to Virginia and North Carolina after the Civil War to continue her teaching of black children. The roster of children had increased to 48 children in 1841.

A testimonial appeared in the local newspaper as follows, signed by William Coffin, and the Rev. Paul Swift, which reads as follows:

The teacher in the black school is grateful of the opportunity to assist in elevating a race hitherto looked upon to a rank and station, in which color shall no longer be considered a mark of ignorance...." In 1848. a newcomer came to the pulpit of the African Baptist Church. His name was the Reverend James E. Crawford, and he was an escaped slave and found a haven in Nantucket, like many others of his race. To liberate his sister, still held in slavery in Virginia, Crawford gave a series of lectures, to which he charged a small fee, and eventually raised the necessary funds. The Church was too poor to pay the Minister, and the Rev. Mr. Crawford opened a barber shop on the waterfront, and supported himself for a number of years. He was also called upon to preach occasionally at the Summer Street Baptist Church, where he also gave some lec-

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Nantucket's African Baptist Church, corner of York and Pleasant Streets, as it looked in 1912.

tures to raise money to aid the raising of money to pay for his sister's release. He was an active preacher for over forty years in the African Baptist Church in Nantucket. On the corner of Atlantic Avenue, facing Lower Pleasant Street stand several houses originally built by the black whalemen. Captain Absalom Boston built the second house from the corner. After a few voyages he decided on a new venture. He outfitted a schooner named the Industry, manned it with an entirely black crew, and made a whaling voyage to the West Indies and vicinity. Although not a full success, he completed the voyage and returned with all hands. He retired from the sea, opened a store, and engaged in the real estate business for his neighbors in "New Guinea," as the neighborhood came to be known. Captain Boston's house was later lived in by Sampson Pompey, a Civil War veteran, whose delightful whistling will long be remembered by the school children of seventy-five years ago.

The restoration of the old African Baptist Church is long overdue. In 1979. the Department of the Interior designated the ancient structure an Historic American Building, but it needs action and its significance will bring another historic land-mark to Nantucket.