Andrew Bryan (1737-1812)

January 17, 2007 
/ Contributed By: Turkiya Lowe

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Andrew Bryan

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First named First Colored Baptist Church and located in Savannah, Georgia, First African Baptist Church traces its roots to December 1777, and is officially designated the oldest African American church in the United States.  George Liele, the Church’s founder, continued to evangelize and baptize both the free and enslaved black populations of the Savannah area during the rest of the Revolutionary War period.  One of those enslaved people was Andrew Bryan.  Liele baptized Andrew Bryan, who was born in 1737, and his wife Hannah in 1782.

When David George and George Liele, along with hundreds of blacks, evacuated Savannah with the British in July 1782, Bryan remained and retained spiritual leadership of the First Colored Baptist Church.  Andrew Bryan was allowed to preach by his master, Jonathan Bryan of Brampton Plantation, and became an ordained minister on January 20, 1788.  The First Colored Baptist Church became certified by the Georgia Baptist Association in May 1790 and pre-dated the establishment of the white Baptist Church in the city by five years.  Andrew Bryan remained the church’s pastor until his death in 1812.

Author Profile

Dr. Turkiya L. Lowe serves as National Park Service (NPS) Supervisory Historian and Deputy Federal Preservation Officer, managing the NPS Park History Program in Washington, D.C. She holds a doctorate and master’s degree in 20th century U.S. and African American history from the University of Washington as well as a Bachelor’s degree in history from Howard University.

National preservation programs under her administration include: the African American Civil Rights Network, the American World War II Heritage Cities program, the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act program, and the Maritime Heritage Grant program as well as the NPS’s administrative and oral history programs.

Dr. Lowe served as NPS Southeast Regional (SER) Historian and manager for the SER Cultural Resource Research and Science Branch, and also had the privilege to serve as Acting Superintendent of Cane River Creole National Historical Park. She also worked in the Region’s Office of Interpretation and Education, where she was the Regional Program Manager for the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program assisting communities and stewards to tell the stories of Black resistance to enslavement through escape and flight.

Dr. Lowe also has worked as national Program Manager for the Cultural Resources Diversity Internship Program and a staff reviewer for the National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks programs. One of her favorite projects was analyzing and assisting with increased nomination and designation of historic sites associated with the histories of people of color and other underrepresented communities through the 2006 Preserve America Summit.

Dr. Lowe consulted as a Principal Investigator on historic preservation projects in collaboration with the NPS Seattle Support Office, investigating the history of civil rights in the Pacific Northwest and identifying historic properties for potential preservation and interpretation efforts.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Lowe, T. (2007, January 17). Andrew Bryan (1737-1812). BlackPast.org. https://new.blackpast.org/african-american-history/bryan-andrew-1737-1812/

Source of the Author's Information:

Africans in America, PBS Online, July 22, 2006; Walter H. Brooks, D. D., A History of Negro Baptist Churches in America (Washington, D.C.: Press of R. L. Pendelton, 1910) © 2004 University Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Online July 22, 2005, http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/brooks/brooks.html.  New York Public Library Digital Library Collections Records, First African Baptist Church Records, 1873-1977, http://digilib.nypl.org/dynaweb/ead/scm/scmgfabc/@Generic__BookTextView/136;pt=114

Further Reading