ABSTRACT

Although African American migrants had established many churches by 1900, their numbers increased in the first two decades of the twentieth century. The growth of African American churches between 1900 and 1920 is reflected in the Birmingham City Directory. In 1900 the Directory listed only twenty-eight African American churches that existed within the city limits. Baptists' churches accounted for most of the growth as they had done in the last three decades of the nineteenth century. The large number of churches that African Americans founded in Birmingham and the financial support that churches received from them attests to the loyalty and importance of the church among African Americans in the city. Throughout its life, the African American church filled many needs for those who migrated into the city. In the sense of assisting new arrivals in adjusting to a strange environment, African American churches were similar to the Greek Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.