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Following Emancipation, formerly enslaved people often formed their own communities, schools and churches. Within these communities, churches acted as vital spiritual, cultural, economic and social resources for African Americans. In Oak Cliff's Tenth Street Historic District, Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church traces its origins to the mid-1800s. The congregation included many prominent families who helped build the Tenth Street community. These local leaders, educators, merchants and developers pooled together funds to build churches, establish aid societies and provide services for Freedmen, women and children. In 1909, after moving several times, the congregation of Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church began work on a new church building, digging out the basement with teams of mules and by hand. The congregation volunteered their time and worshiped in the basement until the sanctuary was completed in 1926, designed by noted African American architect William Sidney Pittman. Rev. William L. Dickson (c. 1865-1933) began as pastor at Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in 1926. He and his wife, Inez, set up a day nursery for African American working women and Rev. Dickson went on to act as a mediator for the Dallas community during an intense time of racism and injustice. Meetings were held at the church to counsel friendly relations with the Anglo community. In the first half of the 20th century, Tenth Street had one of the largest concentrations of churches per miles in the world. Now, only Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church remains, marking more than one hundred years of lifting up the community through faith and service. (2019) |
