Zion Baptist Church

Zion Baptist Church was first organized in 1865 and met in a humble dwelling on Gadsden St. before the congregation moved to this site in 1871. The current sanctuary, the second on this spot, was built in 1916. The church long served as a center for community organization, and both the Women’s Baptist Educational and Missionary Convention of S.C. in 1888 and the Women’s Auxiliary to the Gethsemane Baptist Association in 1919 were founded here, along with other important missions. In 1930 Dr. Matilda Evans, the first African American woman to have a practice in the state, started a free clinic in the church basement that served 700 patients on its first day. On March 2, 1961, more than 200 African American students met here before marching to the State House to protest racial segregation, and the U.S. Supreme Court later overturned the convictions of those arrested during the march in Edwards v. S.C. (1963).

Columbia, South Carolina · United States