Positions Held

• President of the Virginia Theological Seminary
• Pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church 1948-1952
• Pastor for the Maryland Baptist Church

Biggest Effect on American History

• First African-American to have a sermon published
• Started the bus boycottsLaid the foundation for the American Civil Rights movement

Associates

• Ralph D. Abernathy of DABC
• Mentor of Martin Luther King Jr 

High and Low Points of Career

When he became a preacher for Dexter Avenue Baptist Church he was labeled as a radical because of such sermons as “It’s Safe to Murder Negroes in Montgomery,” and “When the Rapist Is White.” Those sermons had to do with his daughter getting raped by a policeman and a friend and deacon of his getting murdered by another policeman. One of the lines in the sermon was “Rabbit is only in season for three months out of the year but nigga is always in season”.

•   Graduated from Oberlin College with a B.D. He was admitted when he met with the dean and translated texts of German and Greek, both languages that he taught to himself, to prove how gifted and intelligent he was.

• He became an ordained Baptist Minister in 1918 after graduating from the University of Chicago. 
• From 1947-1952 he preceded Martin Luther King Jr. as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. During his time there he offended many blacks and whites with his controversial, radical sermons.