Rosedale's Churches: Past and Present

ANNA MARIE SMITH: That is a picture of their fiftieth anniversary. My great aunt, Miss Wortham served as church secretary for 55 years. 

SHAE COREY: So, it's been around since 1887? 

ANNA MARIE SMITH: Yes, it's 132 years. It's the oldest church in Birmingham. Okay, it's the oldest church here in Homewood. 

SHAE COREY: Wow, so has your, have generations of your family gone to this church?

ANNA MARIE SMITH: Uh, yes. My father was a member there, as I said my great aunt was a member there, I was born there, and still attend. Uh...

SHAE COREY: How do you feel that the churches, like, so we've listened to a bunch of different interviews from other Rosedale members of the Rosedale community, do you feel that the churches are such a big part of the community?

ANNA MARIE SMITH: They were, at my time.

SHAE COREY: Mhm. 

ANNA MARIE SMITH: At my time, they were very important. Because you have to remember, people lived in the community, they went to the churches in the community. So, you walked to church, you walked to choir rehearsal, you walked to vacation bible school. You had friendship, Union and Bethel. So, and the pastors of those churches all worked together. Vacation Bible School was all three churches. Vacation Bible School was at Union, Vacation Bible School was 9-12. So, they had the general session was at Union, classes were held at Friendship, classes were held at Bethel and everyone came back together at 12 at Union and dismissed. So, the churches were a big part of the community because everyone who lived in the community went to one of the three. You went to one of those three churches, so yes, they were a big part of the community. And the sense of the community. And the people that lived in the community were very proud of the community, took care of it, pride in what it looked like, pride in the way it was kept. Pride in, everyone's actions. As adults, and as children, adults looked after children, they, they could speak to any child, anyone's child--tell them to sit down and stop and you sat down and stopped. (Laughter) And when you got home, you got another whooping because Miss so and so had called your mama and told your mama what she had done. So yes. 

Throughout Rosedale's history, churches acted as pillars of the community. Established in the late 1880s and early 1900s, Union Missionary Baptist Church, Friendship Baptist Church and Bethel A.M.E all thrived as epicenters of neighborhood life, accountability and pride. When the community faced challenges, the Rosedale churches often played a major role in the restoration of peace and order. In the early 1900s, the Rosedale School was burned down multiple times in a span of a few weeks. Instead of halting the education of students, the churches opened their doors and offered the space for school to continue. Frances Jones, a lifelong Rosedale resident, remembers her experience:

"Yes, from first grade, mhm, in fact our class was the first first grade to go in the school because we were in churches. So, they, and we've had schools to burn down in separate, you know in different--you know areas. So, when they built that one up there out of rocks, I was, our class, when they left the school, our class was the first to go into the new school. [SHAE COREY: Do you remember when the schools burned down?] No, I don't remember. Because they had one on Loveless Street and all that, I don't remember those, but I do remember when I was first grade we went and came back to Rosedale, I had to go to school in one of the churches."

Community members recall attending school in the churches, a strong family atmosphere and a deep sense of accountability. The tightly knit fabric of the neighborhood can be traced back to the connected nature of the churches, the school and the streets. The borders of the segregated neighborhood bred a closeness that placed neighbors into all areas of life with each other. Next-door neighbors were not only neighbors--they were church members, Sunday School teachers, deacons, ushers, choir singers--the Rosedale churches played a pivotal role in the community, and continue to remain a strong point of connection amongst Rosedaleans. 

When asked to descibe changes in the Rosedale neighborhood over time, Josephine Jerald stated in a History Harvest interview, "Only closeness we have is the churches." Throughout the History Harvest interviews, many community members expressed a strong attachment to the churches as remnants of a bygone communal intimacy. The Rosedale churches have played, and continue to play, a large role in the neighborhood as facilitators of faith, fellowship and familiarity. 

For more information on the Rosedale churches, browse oral history interviews and artifacts collected from History Harvest attendees (obituaries, condolences, photographs).