Floyd Chapel Baptist Church was a safe place for African Americans to
worship in the early 1800s. One of the first churches in Stock bridge, its
original location was approximately 1.5 miles north, off of what is now called
East Atlanta Road. A cemetery, shared by both Floyd Chapel and the historic
Trinity United Methodist Church (est. 1856), still exists at the original site.
Floyd Chapel was moved here in 1878 and has endured as a cornerstone of Stockbridge's African American community. During the late 1920s, another wood-framed church was constructed at this same site. In 1949 that building was torn down and a new church was erected with the
existing blocks.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr., father of renowned civil rights leader and Nobel
Prize winner, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., worshiped at Floyd Chapel as a
child with his mother Delia Lindsay King. He received his calling to the
ministry at age 10. Later, at age 15, he was ordained as a minister and
preached his first sermon in this church. In adulthood, King, Sr. would
as "Daddy King," a well-respected minister, influential community
organizer, and early champion of civil rights in the Jim Crow South.
Comments 0 comments