This church was organized about the year 1845. The church was composed
of the white membership and the church which was composed of the
colored membership, agreed to build together, with the understanding
that the former should occupy the upper story and the latter should
occupy the basement. This agreement was kept until some time after
the close of the war, when the white brethren bought the claims of
the colored church, paying $2,000 for possession of the basement.
Their first colored pastor was the Rev. Samuel Phillips, a man who
had received his liberty as a reward for his services in the Mexican
war. Deacon A. Goldsby told the writer that Bro. Phillips was a very
earnest, worthy man. Nothing is known of the time and place of his
birth, and nothing special is said of his death.
The Rev. John Blevens, who was born in Madison county, Ala., was the
next pastor, and served from 1866 to 1878. Under his administration
the present property on St. Phillip street was obtained. The Rev.
Mr. Blevens was followed by Rev. G. J. Brooks, who, after a short
pastorate, resigned, and was followed by Rev. W. A. Burch, from
Philadelphia, Pa. Mr. Burch gathered a larger congregation than any
other previous pastor, and did more than any other man in teaching the
people to give for the support of the church. After two years, he was
called to a pastorate in Boston, Mass., and was followed in the Selma
pastorate by the writer, who remained with the church during 1882-87.
Except the addition of about 350 members and the secession of the
Tabernacle Church, nothing transpired that merits mention. The writer
was followed by Rev. S. S. Sisson. At this writing, the Rev. C. J.
Hardy, late of Florida, is their successful leader, under whose strong
administration they have just completed a two-story brick structure on
Sylvan Street. Their property is worth not less than $20,000--finest
colored church edifice in Alabama.
It is worthy of mention and praise that the Selma University came to
its birth under the fostering care of this church. In the old frame
building on St. Phillip street the sainted Woodsmall began to turn upon
the negro Baptists of Alabama the morning light, the early dawning, of
our denominational school. And this church gave him quarters, fuel and
lights without money and regardless of costs, so that in May, 1878, it
was reported that the school had paid out nothing for these things.
What a good deed is set down to their credit on high! But, in addition
to this, they organized a missionary society, which gave regular
contributions for support of teachers and other workers in the school.
Deacon A. Goldsby related the following to the writer: “Forty or fifty
years ago we organized a prayer band to pray for our freedom. We met
outside of the little town, under a large oak tree, on every Friday
night. That we might know when a friend came beneath the tree, we
agreed upon a password, which was ‘The hindering cause.’ Each uttered
this softly as he came under the boughs of the tree, and was answered
by any other who had come ahead of him. Then he seated himself in the
bushes to await the hour for united supplications.”
If in years to come the University should desire a picture of itself
as it made its advent from the world of hope to the world of fact, it
may paint this: A frame structure, the roof of which is supported by a
row of upright posts extending the whole length of the building, which
is seventy-five or eighty feet in length. On the morning for opening,
there enters this building a white man, whose face bears signs of
suffering, but is all aglow with the rays of faith and love. He is the
faculty. Also, there enters a short, fat, brown-skinned young man, with
high, broad forehead. He has heard of the purpose to begin a school on
this day at this place, and, hungering for learning, he has come up to
enter. This teacher and this student usher in our beloved institution.
It was good for the denomination that our lot was cast among such a
people, and that we had in Bro. Woodsmall a man who did not faint in
“the day of small things.”
[Illustration: Rev. P. S. L. Hutchins, Pastor Churches at Newberne and
Gallion, Ala.]