Darlington Heights in Prince Edward County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
Vernon Johns
Photographed by Bernard Fisher, April 12, 2012
1. Vernon Johns Marker
Inscription.
Vernon Johns. . Rev. Dr. Vernon Johns was born here in Darlington Heights on 22 April 1892. A graduate of Oberlin College, Johns was an orator of great renown and the first African-American minister included in Best Sermons of the Year (1926), an international publication. He was pastor of Court Street Baptist Church (1920-1926; 1941-1943) and president of Virginia Theological Seminary and College (1929-1934), both in Lynchburg. Later he was pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama (1948-1952). A blunt-spoken opponent of racial segregation and a champion of civil rights, Johns exhorted his congregations to resist the laws that constricted their lives. He died in Washington, D.C., on 10 June 1965, and is buried just north of here.
Rev. Dr. Vernon Johns was born here in Darlington Heights on 22 April 1892. A graduate of Oberlin College, Johns was an orator of great renown and the first African-American minister included in Best Sermons of the Year (1926), an international publication. He was pastor of Court Street Baptist Church (1920-1926; 1941-1943) and president of Virginia Theological Seminary and College (1929-1934), both in Lynchburg. Later he was pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama (1948-1952). A blunt-spoken opponent of racial segregation and a champion of civil rights, Johns exhorted his congregations to resist the laws that constricted their lives. He died in Washington, D.C., on 10 June 1965, and is buried just north of here.
Erected 1994 by Department of Historic Resources. (Marker Number M-27.)
Marker is in Darlington Heights, Virginia, in Prince Edward County. It is at the intersection of Darlington Heights Road (County Route 665) and Douglas Church Road, on the right when traveling west on Darlington Heights Road. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Pamplin VA 23958, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Virginia’s Piedmont, in Southside Virginia, and specifically in Central Virginia. It is also in the American South and specifically in the Upper South. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on April 14, 2012, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia. This page has been viewed 1,496 times since then and 95 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on April 14, 2012, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia.
