First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill

Our story concludes with First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill, which is significant for three reasons. First, we stand near an intersection that honors two iconic Civil Rights figures: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Rosa L. Parks Boulevard. Second, this stop brings our journey full circle—as this church and other churches played a central role in Nashville’s Civil Rights movement. Third, as you look past the marker, you will see Tennessee State University’s Avon Williams campus. This is a reminder of the true heroes of the sit-in movement—local college students from TSU, Fisk, American Baptist College, and Meharry. Also, the campus is named for Avon Williams—who was one of the attorneys for the student protesters.

In March 1951, Kelly Miller Smith, Sr. became the pastor of the First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill. Three years later the Supreme Court handed down its unanimous Brown v. Board of Education, which began the process of school desegregation. Nashville began its own desegregation plan in 1957, and Smith’s daughter was one of 17 Black students who desegregated white elementary schools that fall. Smith became president of the local NAACP and also founded the Nashville Christian Leadership Conference (NCLC.) First Baptist was a center for local Civil Rights activities—hosting non-violence workshops and housing administrative offices. In fact, the 124 students who conducted the first sit-in on February 13th met here for prayer before departing for downtown department stores. Dressed in their Sunday best, men wore suits and ties and women wore dresses and heels. Also, on May 16, 1960, Nash, Lewis, and the Nashville student movement members met here to plan the continuation of the Freedom Rides, and where the NCLC executive board voted to give the students money for the trip.

It was not just First Baptist Capitol Hill that aided efforts to Civil Rights. The Baptist Minister's Conference of Nashville, representing seventy-nine congregations, unanimously voted to support the student movement, as did other denominational parishes. The powerful combination of churches and HBCU students resulted in an inspired cause and sustained call to action.