Located on W. Whitney Avenue in the southwest part of Albany, Georgia, the Mt. Zion Baptist Church and the Albany Civil Rights Institute visually connect Albany’s past with Albany’s present. Founded in 1865, Mt. Zion Baptist Church has long been a fixture in the Black community in Albany. As a freedmen’s church, it was the first African American Baptist church in Albany. On November 25, 1961, the first Albany Movement meeting occurred at the church. The church played a pivotal role during the Civil Rights Movement and galvanizing activists in Southwest Georgia. It was also the location where the Freedom Singers held their first performance. The meetings were so well attended that people would overflow into the street into Shiloh Baptist Church, serving as a meeting place for activists and a sanctuary for those seeking justice. Leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr, John Lewis, and Ralph David Abernathy attended and spoke at the meetings.
Adjacent to the church, the Albany Civil Rights Institute is dedicated to preserving the rich history of the Civil Rights Movement in Southwest Georgia. Housed in the rehabilitated Old Mt. Zion Baptist Church, the institute features exhibits, interactive displays, and a digital oral history database that bring the stories of the past to life1. Visitors can explore the struggles and triumphs of the movement through photographs, documents, and artifacts that detail the fight for voter registration, nonviolent protest, and economic boycotts. The church underwent significant restoration after the “Great Flood of 1994,” which caused extensive damage to the church.
Connected to the church, The Albany Civil Rights Institute, originally known as the Albany Civil Rights Movement Museum, opened in November 1998. Its mission is to educate about the Civil Rights Movement, especially in Southwest Georgia.
Below are images of the church from the National Register of Historic Places application before it is restored.
In this image, Shiloh Baptist Church can be seen. It would co-host Albany Movement meetings since they were so well attended that people would overflow into the street. Often, presenters would finish at one church, walk across the street, and speak to those who had gathered in the other building.
A yellow folk Victorian is located on W. Whitney Avenue in Albany, Georgia, on a historic street that stands out among the more recently built homes and apartment buildings. Whitney Avenue was the epicenter of the Albany Civil Rights Movement. The Shiloh Baptist Church, Mount Zion First Baptist Church, and the Albany Civil Rights Institute are on the same block as the house.
Always curious about the early families who lived in older homes and wanting to know more about Black history, I began researching the history because I suspected the home might connect to Albany’s Black history. At first, I had trouble unraveling the history with my normal methods, but when I used the Sanborn maps, I realized that Whitney Avenue was once South Avenue. Here, I learned that the house was once 307 South Street.
The earliest family I could trace to the home belonged to Bartow and Charlotte Powell. The Powells married in 1890 and eventually had seven children (The Crisis, September 1918). According to a news article about his death in the Americus Times-Recorder (January 25, 1918), “He was one of the largest tax peyers (sic) in Baker county, and owned considerable property in Dougherty.” Powell was born in Bainbridge, Georgia. Before the age of twenty, he started working to help dredge the Flint River and started to save money so that by the age of 20, he had saved $2,000 and was able to purchase his first five hundred acres of land (Kletzing et al., 1913). According to Powell (Kletzing, 1913, p. 265)
I started with my (work) force on the first day of January, because they say whatever you do that day you will do year round. It proved to be so in my case, for it was not until the Christmas week of the next year that I saw a day off.
His hard work paid off, and he earned $2,500 in his first year. By his fifth year, he had saved enough money to purchase a 300-acre farm. By his 9th year as a farmer, he had grown his land holdings to 1801 total acres. He eventually owned over 9,000 acres where he grew cotton, sugar cane, and corn. He also owned livestock (Kletzing, 1913).
Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
There are mentions of his nice home in Albany (The Valdosta Times, 1897; The Atlanta Journal, 1903). While it is possible that they were referring to another home Powell owned, I believe they were referring to this specific one since it was in a prominent Black neighborhood. It is clear that he has become a man with stature. In a 1914 article in The Atlanta Constitution, it is noted he provided fifteen wagons for a parade at a country fair where Booker T. Washington traveled from Atlanta to open. A 1915 article in The Valdosta Daily Times mentions a successful transaction of 500 bales of cotton earned him $20,000. At some point, he began to manage the Flint River dredging project (The Negro Farmer and Messenger, 1916; The Atlanta Constitution, 1918).
Unfortunately, Powell was murdered while driving his carriage in Albany in 1918 (Dittmer). At his death, it was estimated that his overall wealth was $300,000 (Tuskegee Institute). Most of his land was sold for $56,000 in 1920 (The Macon Telegraph). According to Census records, Charlotte and most of the children moved to either Ohio or New York after 1920.
The home was in the path of the 1994 Flint River flooding as the flooding went further west and caused significant damage to the Mt. Zion Baptist Church (Seegmueller, 2019). There was mention in 1996 that this house would be restored, but I cannot find evidence that this was ever started (Associated Press).
Note: I am still researching his family and hope to provide an update on their lives.
References
[Article about Barton Powell]. (1897, May 29). The Valdosta Times. p. 1, column 2.
Associated Press. (1996, July 22). Walkabout shows plan for Albany. The Atlanta Journal. p. 15.
Baker County Negro farmer sells 500 bales [sic] cotton. (1915, March 1). The Valdosta Daily Times. p. 3.
Bartow Powell, rich Negro farmer, is dead. (1918, January 25). The Atlanta Constitution. p. 9.
B. T. Washington opens Negro fair in South Georgia. (1914, October 23). The Atlanta Constitution. p. 3.
Gibson, J. W., Crogman, W. H., Washington, B. T. & Williams, F. B. (1912) Progress of a race; or, The remarkable advancement of the colored American. From the bondage of slavery, ignorance and poverty to the freedom of citizenship, intelligence, affluence, honor and trust. [Naperville, Ill., J. L. Nichols & company] [Pdf]. Retrieved on January 11, 2025, from https://www.loc.gov/item/12032534/.
The Martin Theatres group opened the State Theatre, now the J. Lane Theater, in 1945. Originally opened as a movie theater, the theater now hosts live events.
There isn’t much information on this church. A historic resources survey lists the build date as 1906, but there isn’t additional information included. Newspaper archives show Rural Hill, near Bottsford, existed as early as 1889. There are references to Rural Hill Church in The Dawson News. FindAGrave lists a cemetery with that name, but it is not on the church’s property but a mile or so away. I will update the post if I learn more information about it.
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