'History Half Told Is Untold': WATCH Story of Oldest Black Church in America on CBN News Channel Tonight at 8PM

It's believed by many to be the most historically significant black church in the country.  First Baptist Church of Williamsburg, Virginia dates back to Colonial times, and now it's the subject of a new documentary that producers say tells the whole story – not half the story.

The movie features interviews and soundbites from historians as well as some of the church's famous visitors over the years from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who visited First Baptist in 1962, to a more recent visit from former President Barack Obama who read from the pulpit, "ringing a bell from the First Baptist Church of Virginia, one of the oldest black churches in America, founded under a grove of trees in 1776..."

It's a story 245 years in the making – the story of black Americans, free and slaves, gathering in secret to pray and worship together.   

"It was a time when they weren't supposed to be worshipping together, that was a big risk and they took that risk to fulfill their faith," said Dr. Jody Allen, professor of history at William & Mary.

Producers say the documentary, "History Half Told Is Untold," tells the amazing story of how white colonist, Jesse Cole, gave a black enslaved preacher named Moses a small 16 by 20-foot Carriage House for worship.  

"And the story coming out of Bruton Parish (a pre-Revolutionary Episcopal church located in the heart of historic Colonial Williamsburg) is that Jesse Cole's wife, loved the worship service that the Blacks did so much that she would come home and open her window and enjoy the songs and the service.  And the good thing about this is we found the (Cole) descendants of that family and the story is the same. So the parallel history integrates, and that's what we're trying to do with this film," said Connie Matthews Harshaw of the Let Freedom Ring Foundation.   

After a tornado destroyed it, a second church built on the site in 1856 stood for 100 years!  The rich history of First Baptist, however, was literally covered up when the city put a parking lot over the land and paid for a new church building a few blocks away. Thanks to efforts by Colonial Williamsburg and The Let Freedom Ring Foundation, archaeologists began uncovering the history and Harshaw says that is bringing healing.

"Because you have some descendants right now that are still living that saw this process. This church, the 1856 structure, being knocked down and covered up with an asphalt parking lot. They're now getting to ride by and see it being uncovered," Harshaw said.  

And that's helping bring the community, black and white, together. 

"I want people to feel that healing can happen – that togetherness. All we have to do is come together and recognize each other's humanity and that we all serve the same God," said Rev. Dr. Reginald F. Davis, pastor of First Baptist Church. 
 
The goal is to reconstruct the 1818 church on top of where archaeologists discovered the remnants of the original meeting house, first known as the African Baptist Church and later known as First Baptist Church.

"It was probably a very lightly built structure, wooden siding that comes up from a brick foundation," said Colonial Williamsburg Sr. Staff Archaeologist Meredith Poole. "We uncovered that several months ago, and it will not survive long being exposed to the elements like we're experiencing today. So we are backfilling it right now and it will stay covered for the time being. And the hope and the expectation is, that we will be able to rebuild that once the whole project is finished," she said.  

Important discoveries so far include a one-cent coin dating back to 1817, copper pins common on women's clothing at the time, and about 30 gravesites. The dig is scheduled to continue through this year, then work will begin on a reconstructed church. The goal is to open doors to the public by the fall of 2026, in time for First Baptist's 250th-anniversary celebration.   

You can watch the documentary, "History Half Told is Untold," at 8:00 pm Eastern Feb. 25 - 27 on the CBN News Channel. 

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