John Jasper

Portrait Courtesy of Meredith Carrington and Barry O'Keefe

JOHN JASPER WAY
Chamberlayne Avenue to Duval Street

John Jasper was born enslaved on July 4, 1812 in Fluvanna County, Virginia to Philip and Tina Jasper but was raised on the Peachy Plantation in Williamsburg, Virginia - where he was often hired out to work in tobacco factories in Richmond. In 1839, he converted to Christianity and began his preaching career, often traveling across Central Virginia to speak before multi-racial congregations - primarily preaching at the funerals of the enslaved departed. In 1867, he founded Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church in an abandoned confederate horse stable on Brown's Island, which was home to several poor Black Richmonders - before relocating the church to Jackson Ward in 1869. In 1878, he first delivered his most famous speech, "De Sun Do Move", which he preached for the last time in the year before his death. He married four times before departing on March 30, 1901. He was originally buried in Barton Heights Cemeteries, formerly known as Ham Cemetery, before the congregation decided to reintern his remains at Woodland Cemetery as a result of gentrification. In 1957, on the heels of his legacy, the church protested against the interstate highway system, which destroyed over 1,000 homes and businesses while splitting the ward into half - with the congregation refusing to move and causing the highway to bend north around the exterior of the church. In 1996, Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, which was remodeled by Charles T. Russell in 1925, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Please note that this street designation was previously secured by Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church.