Bryan, Andrew
1737-1812 · Contribution: 1788-1812
Founded and pastored First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia, for 24 years, building it from an initial 67 members in 1788 into a congregation of nearly 2,800 by 1831 despite enduring imprisonment and public whipping for preaching to enslaved people
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Impact on the world
Converted to Christianity under the preaching of George Liele, also profiled in this collection, Bryan continued leading Savannah's Black Baptist congregation after Liele emigrated to Jamaica in 1782, enduring repeated arrests and a severe public whipping alongside his brother Sampson for gathering enslaved worshippers; witnesses reported that Bryan declared he rejoiced to suffer for the cause of Christ even as he was being beaten, a response that reportedly moved some white observers to become more sympathetic to his congregation. Officially recognized on January 20, 1788, by white minister Abraham Marshall, the church Bryan built grew rapidly under his leadership, and in 1793 he purchased land to construct a permanent church building, making the site the oldest parcel of real estate continuously owned by Black Americans in the United States. By the time of Bryan's death, his church had spawned Second and Third African Baptist Churches, and it remains active today as one of the oldest Black congregations in the country, split between two present-day institutions, First African Baptist Church and First Bryan Baptist Church, that have long debated which holds the more legitimate claim to the original 1788 founding.
Life & background
Born into slavery in 1737 in Goose Creek, South Carolina, Bryan was later enslaved by Jonathan Bryan near Savannah, Georgia, where he converted to Christianity in the 1770s under George Liele's preaching. He purchased his own freedom for 50 pounds sterling in 1789 following his enslaver's death, led First African Baptist Church until his death on October 12, 1812, at age 75, and by the end of his life was well known and respected among both Black and white Baptist circles in the United States and England.
Sources
- New Georgia Encyclopedia; First Bryan Baptist Church
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