A Brief Description of Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport Black Church Organized in 1915
As the result of canvassing work in Shreveport in 1889, four black people took a stand to keep the commandments of God. One was an ordained minister, one a licentiate, and two were school-teachers (Thayer, 1889). In 1914, Elders Sydney Scott and T. B. Buckner held five weeks of tent meetings, followed up with Bible work by Buckner, Lucinda Jones, and others. September 11, 1915, a black church was organized at Shreveport with fifty members (Parmele, 1915). It was known as the Shreveport Church No. 2.
A New Church in 1938
In the early 1920s the church did not have a good place to meet. Finally in May 1925, they purchased a lot and built a house to meet the needs of the congregation for a short time until plans could be laid for a better, larger place to meet (Elliott, 1925). However, it wasn’t until November 11, 1936, that Elder H. C. Hartwell was invited to hold a business meeting with the Shreveport black church to finalize plans for getting a church building project underway (Hartwell, 1936). In December 1938, their church, which for many months stood as a roughly enclosed framework, was finally completed. It just needed to be painted. They also had a large church school room at the back (Record, 1938). The church was dedicated on April 1, 1939 (Christian, 1939).
Citations
(1938, Dec. 7). Southwestern Union Record, pp. 5, 6.
Christian, I. A. (1939, Apr. 26). Ibid., p. 3.
Elliott, W. R. (1925, May 28). Southern Union Worker, p. 4.
Hartwell, H. C. (1936, Nov. 25). Southwestern Union Record, p. 2.
Parmele, R. W. (1915, Sep. 2). Southern Union Worker, p. 281.
Thayer, J. B. (1889, Apr. 23). Review and Herald, pp. 268, 269.
How it all Began 