Bethel Missionary Baptist Church
Pastor H.H. Hubbard (1941-1967)
From 1941 - 1967, Reverend Hillmon Hannibal Hubbard, a teacher, a leader, a motivator, and a servant of God, became the next minister of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church. Under his determined leadership, there was much growth and prosperity within the church. As a result, the church expanded into a larger building during this time. In addition, the church was bricked and air-conditioned as well.
Black churches, including Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s. Rev. H.H. Huddard and one of our faithful members, Edgar Daniel Nixon (also known as E.D.Nixon - Father of the Civil Rights Movement), were two of the eighteen people participating in the meeting that was held to organize the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) and the first Bus Boycott meeting.
The Bus Boycott, which highlighted the issues of segregation in the South, was sustained for more than a year by the black residents within the city. Edgar Daniel Nixon played a crucial role within the boycott by helping to organize the landmark 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott eventually ended by December of 1956. Afterwards, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the related case (Browder vs. Gayle -1956) that the local and state laws were unconstitutional, and ordered the state to end bus segregation altogether.
In September 1967, God called his humble servant. Rev. H.H. Hubbard, home. However, before Reverend Hubbard was called home to the Lord, the Lord had already placed within our mist the next shepherd of the flock, Reverend Edward Martin. Within one month of Reverend Hubbard's passing, the church held a meeting and called Reverend Edward Martin to be the next pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church.