METROFACS “The Old North State Scholar for Christ”

Part Two

Did you know that?

• For five years MWD Norman served as the president of the Roanoke Collegiate Institute, a denominational school located in Elizabeth City, NC.

• While serving as president of the Roanoke Collegiate Institute, he also served a circuit of four churches-Bethel in Perquimans county, Gale Street in Edenton, Welch’s Chapel in Chowan county and Olive Branch in Elizabeth City.
  

• In 1901 Rev. MWD Norman accepted the call to pastor the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Portsmouth, VA where he faithfully served as pastor for four years and during which time the church’s membership increased while the church’s indebtedness decreased.

• Upon arriving in Washington, D.C., in 1905, the man Rev. MWD Norman, his mission and Metropolitan Baptist Church met and a match was made.

• Rev. MWD Norman instituted the Scriptural method of raising finances (the duplex system) and was the catalyst for the development of new ministries such as the Baptist Training Union, the Boy Scouts, the Men’s Club, and the Women’s Club.

• In the year 1918, Rev. MWD Norman and the Metropolitan family completely paid off the debt on the sanctuary structure which began in 1888 and had surplus funds available for future church growth.

• During Rev. MWD Norman’s pastorship, steam heat and electric lights were installed in the church along with the addition of a pipe organ.

• On May 21, 1920, Rev. MWD Norman, in the name of the Metropolitan Baptist Church began depositing funds in the Industrial Bank of Washington, a practice that continues to this day.

• By the year 1922, the Metropolitan Baptist Church membership had grown to more than 5000 members.

• After the departing of this life of his first wife, Rev. Norman met and married the former Ethel Fitzhugh.

• In recognition of his many accomplishments, Rev. MWD Norman received the Doctor of Divinity degree (D.D.)from the Virginia Seminary and College, the LL.D. degree from the Guadaloupe College of Texas and the LL.D. degree from the Frelinghuysen University of Washington.

• On December 26, 1926, after an illness of several months, Rev. Dr. Moses Wilberforce DeWitt Norman the profound Christian orator and scholar from “The Old North State” departed this life, at his residence located at 1933 Thirteenth Street, N.W. at the age of 58.

  Submitted by the Historical Book Committee
   

METROFACS “The Old North State Scholar for Christ”

Part One

Did you know that?

• Moses Wilberforce DeWitt (MWD) Norman was born around on August 27, 1867, near Plymouth, North Carolina. He began his education by attending local public schools and subsequently attending the State Normal School in Plymouth where he had to work his way through school. In the year 1886 MWD Norman received his conversion experience to Christ and joined the Lily of the Valley Baptist Church.
   

• In the year 1887 MWD Norman received his call to preach the Gospel and was licensed by his home church to preach in September of that same year.
   

• In the year 1888 MWD Norman was ordained to the full work of the ministry and upon graduation from the State Normal School that same year began working as a public school teacher.
   

• While in Raleigh, MWD Norman met, fell in love with Miss Fannie Bridges (a Shaw University Alumnus, accomplished musician and teacher)- the two were joined in holy matrimony on November 19, 1892.
   

• In the year 1893, MWD Norman went on to study at the Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina where he received his A.B. degree and later he earned his A.M. degree.
   

• MWD Norman was held in such high esteem that he was made Dean of the School of Theology at Shaw University, a position that he held from 1893 to 1896.
   

Submitted by the Historical Book Committee
 

METROFACS “Onward Christian Soldiers”

Rev. Robert Johnson, 1870 - 1903, Part II

Did you know that?

• Robert Johnson established a night school at the church in which colored men and women learned to read and write and in the year 1880 he established a day school with the capacity to serve 40 colored children who were denied the right to attend public schools here in the District of Columbia.

• In the year 1882 the fourth Baptist Church, with the original frame church building beingtoo small to accommodate the greatly increasing congregation, and the existing structurenot considered to be safe, decided to tear down the existing structure and to build a substantial brick edifice to accommodate the church’s needs. The church purchased two additional lots and laid the corner stone of the new building on August 28, 1882.

• The Fourth Baptist Church began worshipping in the basement of the new church in the year 1883 and continued to worship in the basement through 1892 because the main auditorium was not yet finished.

• The Fourth Baptist Church name was changed to the Metropolitan Baptist Church “Colored” on June 18,1892. At that time the church had approximately 1,500 members.

• Rev. Robert Johnson served as the second pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Church from 1870 until his departing of this life on Friday, December 18, 1903 at 10:45 pm.

• In spite of the many challenges that confronted these inspired men and women of God , they persevered, having a vision of providing a house where yet unborn generations of God’s people could worship Him in spirit and in truth.
  
  Visit the historical exhibit to find out more!

METROFACS “Onward Christian Soldiers”

Rev. Robert Johnson, 1870 - 1903, Part I

Did you know that?

• Robert Johnson was a former slave, born around 1836 in Westmoreland County, Virginia.

• Robert Johnson joined the Fourth Baptist church in 1864 as a private member.

• Robert Johnson served in the United States Colored Infantry (43rd Regiment, Company D) during the year 1865 and held the rank of an Army Corporal at the time of his being discharged out of military service.

• Robert Johnson worked during the day as a day laborer and attended the Wayland University Home Missions School , at night to learn how to read and to write.

• Robert Johnson after receiving the call to the ministry, enrolled in the Wayland University Theological Institute , which later became a part of the Virginia Union University.

• Robert Johnson in the year 1867 joined the Nineteenth Street Baptist church, and was there ordained as a minister of the Gospel.

• Robert Johnson was called to serve as the second pastor of the Fourth Baptist Church, now known as Metropolitan Baptist Church, in the year 1870.

METROFACTS “In the Beginning”

Rev. Henry Bailey, Metropolitan’s First Pastor, 1864-1870

Did you know that…
 

• during the Civil War several Civil War barracks were located in and around this neighborhood. One particular barrack was called McClellan’s Barracks (a.k.a. Camp Barker). Camp Barker was located between 12th and 13th Streets, NW and between Q and R Streets, NW. (Directly across the street from the present site of our church)
   

• Camp Barker, the initial location of the Freedman’s Hospital (now known as Howard University Hospital), was a collection of tents and barracks in an open field on 12th and R Streets.
   

• in 1864, in the midst of one of the District of Columbia’s then over-crowded, impoverished, crime infested, alley communities (a.k.a. Hell’s Bottom), God inspired ten souls including the Rev. Henry Bailey, to found what was then called the Fourth Baptist Church. Initially, worship meetings were held in the tents located across the street from Camp Barker.
   

• in 1865 these dedicated souls, with their limited financial means, purchased two lots of land across the street from Camp Barker for $2,500.00 and set out to build a house dedicated to worship God. They later changed their name to Metropolitan Baptist Church).
  
  The Metropolitan Baptist Church Historical Book Committee
   

Metropolitan Bids Farewell to Elder Ruth Hankins-Nesbitt

April 14, 1919 - April 12, 2007

Former Trustee Chair and Deacon Ruth Hankins Nesbitt joined the Metropolitan Baptist Church under the leadership of the late Dr. E.C. Smith in 1945. She began by working in the church teaching Sunday School and being active in every ministry that could utilize the gifts and talents God had given her. She was active with the Youth Ministries, the Legal Ministry, and the Women’s Ministry. She was appointed to the Trustee Board by the late Dr. E. C. Smith and later appointed as Chairperson of the Trustee Board by Dr. H. Beecher Hicks, Jr., a position, which she held for over 17 years. She was an active member of the Building Fund Committee, Stoddard Baptist Home and many of the church’s other ministries. Ruth used her expertise in Law, her teaching skills, her perseverance, her networking, her contacts and her dedication to help all she could for Kingdom building. She was a mentor to some and a surrogate mother to others. Her warmth, commitment, and model of giving back to God’s people what God blessed her with still stands as a beacon of light in the church and in the DC community.

Ruth Elizabeth Hankins Nesbitt was born on April 14, 1919 in Vernon Hill, VA. She was the second of nine children born to the late Nannie Pearl (Dodson) and Charles Thomas Hankins. Three of her brothers, have preceded her in death. Ruth spent her early years in South Boston, VA, an urban tobacco growing community. The determination of her father to never have his children work in the tobacco industry set Ruth on a quest to improve herself and be in a position to help her siblings. To this end Ruth graduated, salutatorian, from Halifax High School; enrolled in Lynchburg College, Lynchburg, VA and graduated with honors earning a certificate as a teacher. She earned an undergraduate degree from Virginia Seminary, in Lynchburg; and a law degree at the Robert Terrell School of Law in Washington, DC. She was one of the first Black women to pass the Virginia Bar; she also passed the DC Bar. In 1944, Ruth began working for the US. Department of Treasury in Chicago and a year later transferred to the U.S. Department of Defense in Washington, DC. This is where her legal expertise came into full bloom as she struggled to impact segregation and prejudice.

Ruth became active with the DC Democratic Party, organizing the women’s arm of that organization. She was active in the NAACP, The National Council of Negro Women, and the Questers (whom she dearly loved). In 1975, she was appointed to the Public Service Commission, a position which enabled her to help many citizens with utility and transportation expenses. She set a standard of excellence for her peers in the legal arena and in her community. Ruth was the first woman to serve as President of the Washington Bar Association; the first to be appointed to the Commission under the Home Rule Act and the first woman to serve as its Chairperson, all positions which caused her to struggle and sacrifice to help her race. In 1976, she was awarded Woman of the Year by the DC Bar Association. She earned a Distinguished Service Award from the Howard University Alumni Association, A Martin Luther King Award for Social Responsibility and an award for Outstanding Service In Government. In 1980, she was awarded the Ollie Mae Cooper Award. After having established the Charles Hamilton Houston Award, which honored many outstanding persons in legal and related professions, she was awarded the Charles Hamilton Houston Medallion of Merit, the highest award given by the Washington Bar Association. In 1990, she was awarded entrance into the DC Women’s Hall of Fame and in 1991 she was elected into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame.

On Thursday, April 12, 2007 at the Montgomery General Hospital, Ruth peacefully departed this life. She was preceded in death by her husband of 46 years, Vardell Nesbitt, her parents and her three brothers – Oscar, Samuel and Willie D. Her memory will be forever cherished by her daughter, Denise Nesbitt; grandson, Samuel (Sammy) Nesbitt; sisters – Eva H. Woodson, Mary H. Ballou, Lisa H. Middleton (Robert), Pastor Millie H. Ryan, and Nancy H. Overby (Bert); a sister- in law, Carrie Hankins; plus a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives, Sorority sisters, church family and friends. Her legacy lives on!

A memorial fund has been established in honor of Ruth.  Contributions may be made to: Echoes from the Street and mailed to P.O. Box 6152, Silver Spring, MD 20916.