First African Baptist's minister of music, Crystal Satcher.

Out of the Bonds of Slavery
The sanctuary at First African Baptist Church is a thing of beauty. Light streams in through the stained-glass windows behind the pulpit, highlighting the faces of the former pastors who shepherded this flock. The pews in the balcony bear the tribal markings of the slaves who carved them.

Still, it's the basement floor, full of equally spaced holes hand-drilled in a geometric pattern, that best illustrates the awe-inspiring journey this congregation has made. "There's the floor that you actually walk on," says Pastor Thurmond N. Tillman, "but there's another finished floor just 41?2 feet under that one. That's about the space needed for a person to crawl on his hands and knees."

Visitors can't see the second floor or the underground tunnels leading to and from the church. Neither could the slave hunters who regularly searched here for runaways. They assumed the holes in the floor were a form of African art. In reality, they were designed to offer fresh air and directions to slaves headed for freedom on the Underground Railroad.

"I'm still grasping what it means to be the pastor of the oldest black church in America," says Pastor Tillman. "Our history lets us know that we are really obligated to do more than just sit here with all this rich history. We're called to do something that is going to make a difference."

The congregation is currently undertaking a massive renovation, which will include new facilities for visitors, uncovering the Savannah gray brick walls outside the sanctuary, and replacing the steeple that was blown off by a hurricane in 1892. This is in addition to the services the congregation provides for those who need food, shelter, and employment. When thinking of the challenges that lie ahead, PastorTillman recalls the slaves who built the church.

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"In 1859 when construction began on this church, one of the ways that you could get out of slavery was to purchase your freedom," he explains. "But instead of purchasing the freedom of their children or their grandchildren, their husbands or wives, they built a sanctuary to God.

"After working all day in the fields, they came at night by lantern, by moonlight, by torches, or whatever they had," Pastor Tillman recounts. "The building was dedicated in 1861. Just two years later--not 200 years or 2,000 years--Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. I don't think that was just a coincidence."