Atlanta has a unique story to tell at Friendship Baptist Church. 



Friendship offers a unique view of how Atlanta's historically black churches and schools played a key role in the quest for civil and human rights in America.

A landmark on the National Registry of Historic Places, Friendship Baptist Church should be preserved and protected as a site for future generations to learn about the history of the fight for civil rights in America. 

 Atlanta City Council Members should do everything in their power to stop the destruction of Friendship Baptist Church and any other historical landmarks in downtown Atlanta that are slated to be destroyed to make way for the proposed publicly funded Falcons stadium. A new stadium can be built anywhere, but a unique and historic site such as Friendship - once destroyed - can never be replaced.

Founded in 1866 by former slaves, Friendship was home to the first African-American Baptist congregation in Atlanta.

Too poor to afford a church building, the first congregants of Friendship met in a donated boxcar, which they shared as a classroom space with African-American students seeking a higher education.

Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College, now part of the largest consortium of historically black colleges and universities in the U.S., all trace their beginnings back to Friendship.

Friendship is seen as the "Mother Church" of nine other houses of worship in and around Atlanta, including Wheat Street Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue, now part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic District. 


The church has inspired generations of civic leaders, including Maynard Jackson, Jr., the first African-American to serve as mayor of a major southern city. Jackson moved to Atlanta in 1945, when his father, the Reverend Dr. Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Sr.,  was called to be the pastor at Friendship. The reverend's son grew up in the church, and at 14, enrolled at Morehouse College, where he graduated four years later. In 1973, Maynard Jackson, Jr. was elected mayor of Atlanta, and would lead the city to unprecedented success in culture and commerce.

Be a friend to Friendship and help us save Friendship Baptist Church for generations to come. 

For more information on Historic Friendship Baptist Church in Atlanta, please see this short video http://youtu.be/gsPD7rHicuc

Also see the church's website at

http://www.historicfriendshipbaptistchurch.org/

Thank you for caring and being a friend!