Emanuel K. Love
| Emanuel K. Love | |
|---|---|
Love in 1888
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| Born |
July 27, 1850 Perry County, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | April 24, 1900 (aged 49) Savannah, Georgia, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Augusta Institute |
| Occupation | Minister |
| Political party | Republican |
| Religion | Baptist |
Emanuel K. Love (July 27, 1850 – April 24, 1900) was a minister and leader in the Baptist church from Savannah, Georgia. He was pastor of one of the largest churches in the country and was a prominent activist for black civil rights and anti-lynching laws. He played an important role in establishing separate black Baptist national organizations and advocating for black leadership of Baptist institutions, especially schools.
Love was born a slave on July 27, 1850 near Marion, Alabama in Perry County. He was largely uneducated and worked on a farm until 1870 when he entered Lincoln University in Marion where he studied until 1872. He returned to farm work that year and November 17, 1872 he enrolled in the Augusta Institute in Augusta, Georgia under Reverend Joseph T. Robert. On December 12, 1875 he was ordained in the Baptist church. He graduated in 1877 and was appointed missionary for the state of Georgia by the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York and the Georgia Mission Society. On July 1, 1879 he resigned to take charge of the First Baptist Church in Thomasville, Georgia. He resigned this post and returned to the position of missionary for the State on October 1, 1881, this time under the auspices of the American Baptist Publication Society. On October 1, 1885 he resigned to accept another charge, pastor to the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia. This church was one of the largest churches in the world at that time. About that time, he was appointed editor of the Centennial Record and the Georgia Sentinel a Baptist journal and a Baptist Newspaper.
In the 1880s American Baptist leadership was dominated by white, segregationist leaders. Love saw this as unjust, and pushed for more publication of racial issues by the American Baptist Publication Society, and proposed a separate black Baptist publication group. In the late 1880s, Love and William J. White were leaders in the separatist factions and called for greater representation of black leaders in Baptist organizations, as well as for black presidents at the Atlanta Baptist College and Spelman College and more representation in the boards of trustees of the schools. In 1887, Love, White, and James C. Bryan were noted for calling for black leadership at the Atlanta Baptist Seminary.
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