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.