SHREVEPORT, La. ( KTAL/KMSS ) – The Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery in west Shreveport holds a rich history dating back to the 1800s, with stories of influential locals and groundbreaking figures.
Created around 1880, this cemetery became part of an Antebellum-era church located on the Flournoy Plantation. For nearly a century and a half the church has served the people of Shreveport and remains an active place of worship.
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The first church on the grounds was a place of worship for enslaved people. Founded in 1860, the congregation gathered in the cabin of Isom and Agnes Sims. They received permission to use the plantation bell to call the members to worship.
The Sims, along with many other emancipated people, stayed after the Civil War, becoming sharecroppers on the land. The Flournoy family donated a parcel of land to the congregation following the war, and the congregation replaced the cabin with a small red brick building in 1925, naming it the Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church.