African American Houses of Worship

African Americans during the Manhattan Project were often forced to find creative ways to worship.

US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Quick Facts

Location:

Oak Ridge, TN

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

MANAGED BY:

Oak Valley Baptist Church

During the Manhattan Project, thousands of African American workers in Oak Ridge contributed to the success of the revolutionary atomic program in countless ways. However, these workers were not given the same access to goods, services, recreation, entertainment, and housing that their White coworkers enjoyed. Reflecting the segregation throughout the United States during and after World War II, this racial divide extended to houses of worship as well.  

The lack of recognized organized recreational events or community development groups in the African American hutments led a local White Baptist minister to call for more religious opportunities for African Americans of Oak Ridge, saying “much could be accomplished in the religious life of this group as a whole…if a qualified, high-type negro minister could be found.” Historically, churches had been the center of community for African Americans in the South, providing a place of security and the opportunity to build social bonds and community in a seemingly unjust and unpredictable world of Jim Crow segregation. Several Black churches were founded by Oak Ridge residents during 1945 and 1946 with the help of established Knoxville congregations. The government eventually constructed a community church called “Chapel on the Hill” to meet the residents religious needs.   

 A prayer group that began in 1944 in the hut of Mr. and Mrs. David Rodgers formally organized as A.M.E. Zion Church of Oak Ridge in July 1945. The same month, a reverend from Knoxville came to Oak Ridge to help establish the First African Missionary Baptist Church, considered by the congregation to be the first Black Baptist Church in the city. The congregation first met in the hutment recreation hall, but eventually moved into the “Chapel on the Hill.” Oak Valley Baptist Church was organized in October 1946. The City of Oak Ridge offered the fledgling congregation room to meet in an East Village building. Church leaders declined the offer because the East Village was located miles from African American housing and no African Americans could live in the East Village area. Oak Valley Baptist Church instead met in “The House on the Side of the Road.”    

Besides offering religious guidance, African American churches filled a social void in the Black community of Oak Ridge. They sponsored barbeques, singing groups, and fundraisers for church and member needs. Churches also helped organize the first adult education courses offered to African American workers in Oak Ridge. The First Methodist Church started an adult recreation program in the hutment area in 1947, which morphed into work-skill classes including typing, shorthand, sewing, reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic.   

Continue Your Journey 

Oak Valley Baptist Church and Mt. Zion Baptist Church, both located in the Scarboro community, still stand as a testament to the resiliency of African American workers and their families in the face of segregation during the Manhattan Project.