Martin Luther King Jr. came twice to Newport News to speak at First Church of Newport News (Baptist), the city’s oldest and largest black church, as part of his efforts to reach African Americans through churches and historically black colleges, including Hampton Institute. First Church, organized in 1864 and later housed in a new brick building at 2300 Jefferson Avenue built in 1897, was led by Dr. John Williams when it invited King to speak at its January 2, 1958, Emancipation Proclamation observance, where the congregation warmly received the young minister. King returned on June 28, 1962, representing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as its president and chief spokesman for equal rights for black Americans during a Funds for Freedom Drive co-sponsored by the Virginia State Unit of the SCLC and the Peninsula Coordinating Committee. By then the church was led by Rev. Dr. Fred Boddie, King’s old college friend from Shaw University, N.C., and a committed supporter who had spent time in jail for participating in the civil rights movement. On this second visit, however, Newport News’s black community was divided in its opinion of King and his plan for equality amid the burdens of America’s racist policies and practices.
