• Oldest independent Black church in Richmond.
• Since its founding, the church has been known by three different names:
  • The African Church of Manchester, 1821.
  • First Baptist Church of Manchester, 1865, after the civil war.
  • First Baptist Church of South Richmond, with the merger of the cities of Richmond and Manchester.
• Organized by free Blacks, 44 years before the end of the civil war.
• Never part of a white congregation.
• Four Black pastors have served since the Civil War:
  • Rev. Richard Wells—1865-1870
  • Dr. Anthony Binga, Jr. 1872-1919
  • Dr. W.L. Ransome, 1920-1973
  • Rev. Dr. Dwight C. Jones, Senior Pastor 1973-Present
  • Rev. Dr. Derik E. Jones, Pastor 2009-Present
• Three of the churches black pastors have run for the General Assembly of the state of Virginia.
• The Imani Intergenerational Center and Imani Mews Apartments (68 units and 25,000 sq.ft. of retail space) were each erected under the pastorate of Rev. Dr. Dwight C. Jones.
• The church extended it's ministry to Chesterfield County in 2005.

For more history about our church, see our History Books: Traveling On Volumes I: First Baptist, South Richmond... Today and the First Fifty Years, 1821-1871 and Volume II: A 133 Year Journey After the Civil War 1865-1998 “The Wells, Binga, Ransome, Jones Years.”