Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church

The Rev. John Jasper, born a slave in Fluvanna County on 4 July 1812, organized the Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church congregation in Richmond on 3 Sept. 1867 in a former Confederate stable on Brown's Island. A nationally celebrated preacher, Jasper was best known for his 1878 sermon "De Sun Do Move," which he later delivered by invitation more than 250 times. He died on 30 Mar. 1901 and is buried in Woodland Cemetery in Richmond. In 1869, the congregation moved to this site. The present church (built 1887-1890) was remodeled in 1925 in the Gothic Revival style by the noted black architect Charles T. Russell.