Piece of black history rests with Arkansas = church

=20

Piece of = black history=20 rests with Arkansas church

By PEGGY HARRIS
The Associated Press
Thursday, = August 21,=20 2008; 7:21 AM

HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. -- Centennial Baptist Church sits silently = on a=20 downtown street, its doors locked and window panes so clouded light has = trouble=20 getting in. The roof is sagging and some shingles are missing. The = foundation=20 has started to crack.

A National Historic Landmark, the church was built by a black = architect and=20 was pastored by the Rev. Elias Camp Morris, president from 1895 to 1922 = of the=20 National Baptist Convention USA, Inc., the largest historically = African-American=20 Baptist denomination in the country.

Today, the original pews and the church pipe organ serve no heavenly = purpose,=20 and neither will get any use until the 103-year-old building itself can = be=20 restored and possibly turned into a cultural center.

Pigeons have replaced Protestants in the sanctuary.

"It is on its last leg," says Henrietta Williams of Little Rock, = president of=20 the E.C. Morris Foundation and a former church member. "If we don't go = on and=20 move, it's going to continue to deteriorate. So we're at a crucial = point."

About $450,000 in private and state funds have been spent just to = keep the=20 building stable, and a restoration architect is working with the Morris=20 Foundation. The federal government granted the project $300,000 in late = 2006=20 toward renovating the exterior. But the grant was conditioned upon the=20 foundation getting matching funds. So far that has not happened.

To jog the process, the foundation is working with preservationist = Ruth=20 Hawkins of Arkansas State University, who successfully led efforts to = save an=20 Ernest Hemingway haunt in Piggott, a Depression-era meeting place for = black and=20 white farmers in Tyronza and a historic plantation home in Lakeport.

Hawkins, director of the Delta Heritage Initiatives, proposes a = three-way=20 collaboration with the foundation, and Arkansas State and Southern = Financial=20 Partners, a community development group.

She and foundation members envision a fully restored Centennial = Baptist as a=20 black heritage museum and cultural center, featuring African-American = history=20 and gospel music and becoming a stop on a Music Heritage Trail along the = region's existing national scenic byways.

Phyllis Hammonds, who grew up in Centennial Baptist and established = the=20 foundation in 2004, says it is critical that African-Americans be = involved in=20 developing programs at the proposed cultural center and that educational = materials be "unsanitized."

"I want to preserve the integrity of our history," Hammonds = stresses.

A former slave, Morris became pastor of Centennial Baptist in 1879 to = a=20 congregation of about 25 members. Six years later, he was named = president of the=20 National Baptist Convention, preaching self-determination and the right = of=20 blacks to establish their own churches and maintain their own church = leadership=20 independently of the white religious community.

To build Centennial Baptist, Morris engaged black architect and = church member=20 Henry James Price, who was most likely self-taught. The Gothic-Revival = style=20 building, capable of seating 1,000, was dedicated in 1905 and the = congregation=20 grew to capacity.

Morris started Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock, helped = mediate=20 volatile race relations during segregation and established a publishing = house=20 that continues to operate in Nashville, Tenn., where the National = Baptist=20 Convention is now headquartered.

"I see him as the precursor to Martin Luther King," Hammonds says. = "Not only=20 was he an organizer, he was a humanitarian, an entrepreneur. He was an = author.=20 He took care of the poor. He spoke for the disenfranchised. He was the = person=20 who was recognized and well-respected in both communities, = African-American and=20 the white communities."

With church membership dwindling in recent decades, the congregation = held its=20 last service at Centennial in 1994 and turned the property over to the=20 foundation in 2006. Supporters stabilized the building with $250,000 = they raised=20 in private funds and another $200,000 from then-Gov. Mike Huckabee.

The foundation secured the federal grant with the help of Southern = Financial=20 Partners and has applied for a $350,000 grant in donations from the = Walton=20 Family Foundation and others, managed by Southern Bancorp and Southern=20 Financial.

Williams says she hopes a partnership with Arkansas State will = convince the=20 Walton charity that matching funds will be used for a project that has = lifelong=20 promise.

"The Waltons are concerned. ... They don't want to infuse money into = this=20 project and then we're not able to maintain it. And that's a legitimate=20 concern," Williams says. "I understand the business aspects of it."

After restoring the exterior, the group will need about $600,000 to = restore=20 the interior and $500,000 for the pews and pipe organ. Up to $250,000 a = year=20 will be needed to operate the building as a cultural center and museum, = Williams=20 says.

The figures are daunting, but stronger are the childhood memories = Williams=20 has of her church life in east Arkansas.

"The older ladies would teach us how to usher and wear our gloves," = she=20 recalls.

Williams' father was the church janitor, and she remembers dusting = the pews=20 before services. There were Easter egg hunts, cookouts, and she was = married at=20 Centennial Baptist. Hammonds was one of her bridesmaids.

"Here we are a national landmark building and if we lose it you can't = get it=20 back," she says. "I would hate that if we didn't complete this thing. = You would=20 pass by and say, 'That used to be a national landmark.' It would be a = tragic=20 loss."

=C2=A9 2008 The=20 Associated Press