Second Baptist Church

This historic church in South L.A. is the home of the oldest African American church in continual use in the city. The current building was dedicated on January 3rd, 1926, and the congregation was founded four decades prior to that in 1885. The annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was held here in 1928, an event that marked the first time the conference was held in one of the Western states. The church has been the locale of multiple speeches by some of the most well-known leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, including Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Second Baptist Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009 for its significance as part of a grouping of historic buildings and districts associated with African Americans in Los Angeles.

The church on the corner of Griffith Avenue and E. 24th Street in South L.A. is the home of the oldest African American church in continual use in the city. The current building was dedicated on January 3rd, 1926, but the congregation was founded in 1885. There were three men who founded the church in L.A.; it was the second African American congregation formed in the city (after the First A.M.E. in 1872). The African American architect of the new, larger church needed by the growing congregation was Paul R. Williams, assisted by Norman Marsh. The two story, steel-framed structure in Lombardy Romanesque Revival style was built in brick with cast concrete trim. A three-story bell tower originally included a balcony; the base of the tower included one of two entrances on E. 24th St., both flanking a bay with a large rosette window above a triple arched window. The building's interior is divided into two parts: the sanctuary and the Sunday school (accessed from the street corner entrance). A fourth entrance was placed at the building's southwest corner along Griffith Ave. The meeting space could hold 2,000 people.

The annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was held in Second Baptist Church in June 1928; it was the first time the conference was held in the Western states and a featured speaker was W.E.B. DuBois. The four-day conference returned to Los Angeles in July 1942, with mass meetings at the Shrine Auditorium and nightly meetings at Second Baptist Church. The church has been the locale of multiple speeches by some of the most well-known leaders in the Civil Rights movement, including Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Thurgood Marshall, then the general counsel of the NAACP, spoke at the church in 1948 at a regional meeting of NAACP members from five western states and Hawaii. An NAACP regional convention in July 1948 was held at Second Baptist Church, where speakers urged members to fight for labor equality and to vote national politicians who opposed civil rights out of office.

The large meeting space has attracted a number of other groups, including the five-day meeting of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., representing 22,000 churches, in May 1934. When Joseph W. Martin, Jr., the chairman of the Republican National Committee, visited L.A. in September 1941, two rallies were held to hear him speak; one was at the Biltmore Bowl and the other at Second Baptist Church to the Women's Political Study Club. The National Negro Insurance Association, who met here in 1950, arrived in Los Angeles on special trains. The president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), George Meany, spoke at Second Baptist in October 1953 to the annual convention of the AFL Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. In 1953. Second Baptist opened its membership to those of any race, denouncing segregation. In July 1961, a group of members of the congregation left Second Baptist by bus to join the Freedom Riders in Mississippi; their round-trip tickets were purchased by the congregation, who rallied to send them on their way.

Second Baptist is still an active church, the Senior Pastor, Dr. William S. Epps, has led the church since the 1990s. Due to changing demographics, the formerly predominantly African American neighborhood has become predominantly Latino. Second Baptist has periodically rented out the church space for church services geared toward the Latino community.

Anonymous. "Convention of Insurance Group Opens." Daily News (Los Angeles) July 18th, 1950. 7-7.

Anonymous. "Counsel of Colored Group to Speak." Daily News (Los Angeles) March 3rd, 1948. 10-10.

Anonymous. "Willkie to Speak in L.A. July 19." Daily News (Los Angeles) July 10th, 1942. 17-17.

Anonymous. "GOP chairman here Wednesday." Daily News (Los Angeles) September 20th, 1941. 6-6.

Anonymous. "Negroes told they need equality law." Daily News (Los Angeles) July 16th, 1949. 3-4.

Anonymous. "Negroes Holding L.A. Baptist Convention." Daily News (Los Angeles) May 24h, 1934. 3-3.

Grimes, Teresa. Chiang, Christina. NRHP nomination of Second Baptist Church, Los Angeles, California. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 2008.

Second Baptist Church. Timeline of Historic Events, Second Baptist Church: History. Accessed June 6th, 2023. http://www.secondbaptistchurchla.org/timeline-of-historic-events.html.