First African Baptist Church

First African Baptist Church was founded with 120 members and led by Rev. Abraham Murchison (a freed, literate, formerly enslaved person from Savannah, Georgia), who was the eventual magistrate, then mayor of Mitchelville.
The church was structured with two rows of benches, a pulpit, and a ceiling with glass lamps. Men sat on one side, women on the other.
Each Sunday, congregants would gather in their “Sunday Best”, full of beautiful color, turbans for soulful praise and worship.

What had begun as only a military mission grew into something more than that. Mitchelville became a vibrant, self-governed community, both defined and accentuated by the customs and cultures.