Mt. Zion First Baptist Church
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Mt. Zion First Baptist Church is a historic African American church located at 333 Martin Luther King Drive in San Antonio, Texas.
Founded in 1871 by former slaves, the church has since provided ministerial services to thousands and played a major role in the civil rights movement of the city.
In 1949, the Rev. Claude Black Jr. became pastor and lead the church to national prominence in the National Baptist Convention. Pastor Black, who would become a civil rights icon and city councilman would invite figures controversial at the time to speak from his pulpit. Some of those would include Thurgood Marshall, Adam Clayton Powell Jr, Percy Sutton, Barbara Jordan and others. The church created the city's first black owned credit union as well as Project Free, a program dedicated to assisting the poor and elderly.
The church was burned by arson in 1974, but rebuilt the following year.
