FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH (BRICK-A-DAY CHURCH)

The First Baptist Church, founded in 1867 as one of the first black churches of the State, has played an important role in the civil rights movement. She was damaged by an attack on segregationist on January 10, 1957, while her pastor was Reverend Ralph D. Abernathy. On May 21, 1961, she became a refuge for the Freedom Riders who were victims on the same day of serious violence at Montgomery Greyhound Bus Station. In the following hours, 1 500 faithful and activists, including Martin Luther King Jr., were besieged by nearly 300 whites who threatened to burn the building. It was in the basement that Martin Luther King could communicate by telephone with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and ask him for the national guard. The captives last longer than 15 hours before they can escape from the building under the protection of the army.