PRESERVING HERITAGE
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n the late part of the 1800s, among the African Americans in the mountains of Appalachia was a group that called London, Ky. home. In 1898, some of them came together to build a house of worship. It was named First Colored Baptist Church, but in the late ‘60s, the name was changed to Mill Street Baptist Church. Wayne Riley grew up in that church, and when it fell into disrepair, he, along with others in the community, stepped in to save it.
“We already knew that at one time there had been a larger population of African American people here – when the coal mines were booming. We thought it would be easy to gather the history, but it wasn’t,” he said with a laugh. “It sounds easy to just find some history, but once you find it, you have to learn how to store it, how to catalog it, how to present it to people.” In 2004, some family members joined with him, along with guidance from the Kentucky Heritage Council, to start the Laurel County African American Heritage Center.
“The younger people had left because there were no jobs, the older people were dying off, and the church was just sitting there empty,” said Riley, a lifelong res- “Over 100 years ago, there was a group of people who ident. “The city was going to condemn it and tear it started this church and paid for this land,” Riley said. down. Our goal was to save the building.” “It doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the community. We need to remember our history, what it takes to get Several others also wanted to save the building and they from a one-room school to what we have now. We want agreed that a museum would be the best way to pre- our young people to know our history that happened serve the history of the African American population in here. We need to teach them every step in the struggle. Laurel County. Everybody needs to talk to young people about history.” FALL / WINTER 2018 | christianapp.org/MtSpiritGive
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