ACCORD Freedom Trail

Bethel Baptist Church was founded in 1939 by Rev. William Banks, the former pastor of St. Mary's Missionary Baptist Church on Washington Street, and other members from that congregation. Land was acquired on Riberia Street, and the church building constructed in 1943. From its earlier years, the picturesque church, with its distinctive coquina shell-dash stucco finish, has attracted the attention of artists. It became famous around the country through its appearance in many paintings.

In 1963, the church provided meeting space for the NAACP Youth Council, advised by Dr. Robert B. Hayling and Rev. Goldie Eubanks, Sr. which picketed restaurants and lunch counters in the downtown areas that refused service to black people.

When Dr. Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) came to town, in 1964, the civil rights meetings took place at Bethel Baptist Church. A "Freedom School" held here under the direction of Rev. Andrew Young, taught black history and the history of the civil rights movement. Young went on to serve as congressman, ambassador to the United Nations, mayor of Atlanta, and President of the National Council of Churches. He returned to St. Augustine in 2004 to take part in the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the campaign here that led to the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This Historic Marker Presented this 2nd Day of July, 2008 by:Northrop Grumman

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Show me all markers in:  St Augustine, FL  |  St Johns County  |  32084  |  Florida  |  United States of America

Twine Park
111 Lincoln Street
112 M.L. King Avenue
Freedom Trail - 113 DeHaven Street
120 DeHaven Street
102 M.L. King Avenue
97 M.L. King Avenue
Black Catholic Heritage Historical
St. Paul A.M.E. Church
84 St. Benedict Street

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