ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Churches play a vital role in Black history, but they're more than just places of worship. They offer hope, opportunity and a sense of community that too often Black communities were not granted.
“The church was the hub of the community,” Pastor Wayne Thompson said. He is the pastor of First Baptist Institutional Church in St. Petersburg. He said since their inception, Black churches like his have operated for the Lord despite racism. Members of the Black community would congregate in their own churches as they were turned away from white ones.
“It’s like home. Family, love, it’s all here,” said Maxine Feazell, a member at First Baptist Institutional Church.
Despite segregation, Jim Crow and even the pandemic, Black congregations have managed to stay together.
“You can’t have community without unity and the church is a place where that represents itself,” Pastor Kenny Irby said. Irby is with Historic Bethel AME Church, the first and oldest African American church in the city of St. Petersburg.
The church still contains some artifacts that are more than a century old. He said Black churches do not just hold a history that was once pushed aside, they are a part of it.
“Nothing changes our faith; nothing changes our approach to worship. It’s going to live because of the people that it serves,” Thompson said.