The first African-American Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Southwest was organized in New Orleans, LA on June 4, 1892. That organization was the result of the work of Elder Charles M. Kinney, a pioneer African-American minister, who found six African Americans already observing the Sabbath in the city when he arrived in October of 1891. Those six pioneer members were Sis. Elvenia Bolds, Bro. & Sis. Schemel, Bro. & Sis. Frank Smoot, and Bro. Josh Williams. Elder Kinney reported the newly founded church as the fourth African-American church in the region.
Church History