Andrew W. Adkins: Minister and Educator

Alfred Street Baptist Church

Rev. Andrew Adkins was pastor of the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church for 43 years (1920-1963), the longest serving pastor in the church’s history.  In addition to his religious duties, he also taught in the local schools.  As there was then no secondary education for Negroes in Alexandria, he began teaching high school classes in one room of the Parker-Gray Elementary School during his first full year in the city.  Within five years, this small effort led to the creation of the first high school for Negroes in Alexandria, but it would be 1936 before the high school received full accreditation.  He continued to teach through most of his pastorate at Alfred Street and oversaw the church during the Great Depression, its most financially bleak years.  His legacy as a great pastor and dedicated educator within Alexandria resulted in a city-wide day of mourning upon his death in 1963.  He was the father of well-known educators Rutherford, Aldrich, and Robert Adkins.