Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site)

Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site). City of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Former slaves as well as free blacks realized that education was critical to African-American aspirations. Immediately after the Civil War, the Shiloh Baptist Church organized a school for black students. The Freedmen’s Bureau supported this effort, with funding, and Northern white teachers came to provide instruction. One such missionary, a woman from Ohio named Sophia Hatch taught students here and at other black schools in Fredericksburg until 1890. , In addition to promoting education, black churchmen became politically active. In 1876, the Reverend George Dixon and a group of residents proposed a slate of black candidates for local office. None were voted in, though, and the end of Reconstruction effectively curtailed further attempts to obtain black representation. Not until 1966 was a black person elected to Fredericksburg City Council. The candidate was Reverend Lawrence A. Davies, who subsequently ran for mayor in 1976 and served in that capacity until 1996. , (caption) Reverend Lawrence A. Davies became the pastor of the Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site) in 1962. He became the first black to hold elected office in Fredericksburg, serving first as a councilman and then as mayor.