First Baptist Church

First Baptist Church. Farmville, Virginia. , First Baptist Church in Farmville was organized in 1866 as an outgrowth of the predominantly white Farmville Baptist Church. In 1949, following the death of the Rev. C.H. Griffin, the church voted unanimously to call on his son, L. Francis Griffin, to become its new pastor. First Baptist Church did not know the young Rev. Griffin had already received a call to pastor a large church up North with a very promising future, but it did not take long for the young preacher to decide that his home church needed his services much more than the other., In April 1951, when 456 students of Robert R. Moton High School conducted a walk-out to protest the deplorable conditions of their segregated school, the Farmville community was plunged into a social revolution. First Baptist Church under the Rev. L. Francis Griffin took a position of support for the student rebellion. Most of the church members supported their pastor, although there were some dissenters. The church facilities were made available to the students to hold meetings with faculty members, NAACP lawyers, parents, and others representing their cause. It was at First Baptist Church that parents, students, and NAACP attorneys decided to sue Prince Edward County in support of integrated schools., Despite the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court's ruling Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, which outlawed segregation in public education, the fight in Farmville was not over. Prince Edward County closed its public schools from 1959 to 1964 to avoid integration., First Baptist Church continued to provide support to the students and the community in the civil rights struggle. The church was visited by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other nationally known civil rights leaders. Students blocked from attending public schools were able to attend classes in the church. In 1964 a lawsuit, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, forced the reopening of public schools in the county. The case had implications far beyond one county and even one state, however; it ushered in equal access to public education for all students nationwide , and it came at great personal sacrifice to First Baptist Church and its pastor., [Caption:] , Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited First Baptist Church on March 28, 1962, in support of the community's efforts in civil rights in education.