On this day in Alabama history: Charles Octavius Boothe was born
Mobile County native Charles Octavius Boothe (1845-1924) was an educator and religious leader who influenced the founding of Selma University and several other Baptist organizations in Alabama. He is best known for his book "The Cyclopedia of the Colored Baptists of Alabama." (From Encyclopedia of Alabama)
June 13, 1845
Charles Octavius Boothe, a native of Mobile County, was born as the legal property of planter Nathan Howard Sr. Boothe became an influential African-American Baptist preacher, educator and author who worked with white leaders and philanthropists to assist African-Americans in post-Civil War Alabama. He helped found Selma University, the Dexter Avenue-King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery, and the Colored Baptist Missionary Convention for the State of Alabama, the first statewide African-American Baptist denominational organization. In 1901, he joined Booker T. Washington in public opposition to calls to rewrite Alabama’s constitution.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
