The first modernist design for an African American church in the state, this is the fourth building for a congregation founded in 1893. The concrete-block and brick-clad church faces its corner diagonally, its facade enriched only with a tall stained glass window. Inside the rectangular building, the sanctuary is octagonal with a pulpit and choir loft raised on a stage. Above them at a second level is an elevated baptismal pool reached by stairs. Stained glass replaced the original plain glass windows in 1997. In the 1960s, pastor S. Leon Whitney led the congregation in voter registration drives and in 1963 hosted meetings for boycotts of downtown businesses after the Woolworth sit-in.
Two other Farish churches adopted modernist rather than historic styles. Central United Methodist Church (1965–1966, Godfrey, Bassett and Pitts; 500 N. Farish) and Mt. Helm Baptist Church (1963; 300 E. Church) both employ expressive flared front-gabled forms on laminated wood trusses. Central has a layered cornice and rectangular, colored glass panes above the central entrance. At Mt. Helm, home to Jackson’s oldest African American Baptist congregation, freestanding tapered concrete piers support the roof.