Sandy F. Ray papers

ca. 1960s-1999

Sandy F. Ray (1898-1979) was a former pastor of the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York, from 1944 to 1979. Other pastorates he held were at First Baptist Church in LaGrange, Georgia; First Baptist Church in Macon, Georgia; St. Luke in Chicago; and Shiloh Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio. Ray served as president of the Empire Missionary Baptist Convention, N.Y.S., Inc., 1954-1979; the first vice-president of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., 1968-1979; and the first elected African American state legislator of the 95th General Assembly in Franklin County, Ohio (1943-1944). Ray authored the book, Journeying through a Jungle (1979), which is a collection of his sermons. He was also the first elected African American state legislator of the 95th General Assembly in Franklin County, Ohio (1943-1944). The Sandy F. Ray papers consist of handwritten sermons and messages prepared for the ministers' seminar delivered by Ray at the National Baptist Sunday School and Baptist Training Union Congress in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Miami, Florida; Dallas, Texas; Birmingham, Alabama; and San Francisco, California.