First African Baptist Church: Where Two Men Sold Themselves to Free Another
Pennsylvania
The First African Baptist Church of Philadelphia, founded in eighteen oh nine, holds a story almost too extraordinary to believe. According to the church's history, in eighteen thirty-two two members named John and Samuel Bivins made an arrangement that had almost no precedent in American history: they voluntarily sold themselves into slavery for one year in order to purchase the freedom of an enslaved man named James Burroughs, who they wanted to serve as the church's pastor. After a year, Burroughs earned enough to repay the enslaver and the Bivins brothers were freed.
The congregation went on to help found the Downingtown Industrial School and seed numerous churches across the Philadelphia region. Church tradition holds that Booker T. Washington spoke at its centennial celebration.
This building on Lansdowne Avenue remains one of the oldest Black Baptist congregations in American history.
