First African Baptist Church

First African Baptist Church is one of the most significant buildings in Savannah and one of the most moving to visit. The congregation traces its origins to 1773 and the preaching of George Liele and Andrew Bryan, pioneering Black Baptist ministers whose likenesses appear in the church's stained glass, making it one of the oldest Black congregations in North America. The present sanctuary on Franklin Square, at the western edge of the historic district near City Market, was completed in 1859 by the congregation itself — many of its members enslaved, who are said to have made and laid the bricks in the hours after their own labor was done. The interior holds layers of that history: the original baptismal pool, historic light fixtures, preserved stained glass windows, and a pipe organ commissioned in 1834 by St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, which passed to St. Joseph's Catholic Church before being donated to First African. The church's best-known tradition concerns the floor of the lower level, where a pattern of drilled holes is said to have provided air for people hiding beneath on the Underground Railroad; guides tell the story along with the questions historians raise about it. In the twentieth century the church was a center of the civil rights movement — its pastor Ralph Mark Gilbert revived the local NAACP — and it remains an active congregation. Guided tours run Tuesday through Saturday afternoons, typically at one o'clock, for a modest fee. Fit: history travelers, first trips that want more than mansions, and anyone visiting the Civil Rights Museum.

The tour is the way to see it. Led by church members or historians, it moves through the sanctuary and the lower level, explaining how a congregation of free and enslaved people raised one of the most substantial churches in the city, how the community worshipped and organized under slavery and segregation, and how the church carried that tradition into the civil rights era. Look for the pews in the balcony, where markings carved into the wood are attributed to the enslaved builders, and for the floor holes downstairs, arranged in a pattern that guides connect to West African cosmology as well as to the Underground Railroad story. The guides are candid about which details are documented and which are oral tradition, and that honesty makes the visit more powerful rather than less.

Visiting respectfully: this is a working church, so dress modestly, follow the guide's lead on photography, and check tour availability before you go — the tourism office notes that hours and availability may vary, and tours may be adjusted around services, funerals and church events. Visitors are also welcome at Sunday worship, typically at ten o'clock, which is the most memorable way to experience the building as a living place; arrive early and expect a warm welcome and a long service. Allow about an hour for the tour.

Building the day: First African Baptist sits on Franklin Square, steps from City Market and a short walk from the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Visit the museum in the morning, take the church tour in the afternoon, and finish at the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters across the district for the most complete telling of Black Savannah's history the city offers. Franklin Square itself, with its monument to the Haitian soldiers who fought in the 1779 Battle of Savannah, adds one more layer to the stop. The square sits at the edge of City Market, so lunch or an early dinner is easy to arrange before or after the tour, and the walk from the Civil Rights Museum takes about ten minutes along the old West Broad Street corridor. Visitors who come on a weekday without a reservation should arrive a little before the tour time, since groups can be small and are sometimes adjusted at short notice. The visit is unhurried and personal, and many travelers name it among the most memorable hours of their trip.