Civil rights pioneer honored

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - One of Springfield's most noted African-American churches, St. John's congregational church Sunday honored civil rights pioneer W.E.B. Dubois with a spirited black history month event.

The St. john's church congregation celebrated closer ties with the W.E.B. Dubois center at the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Frank Robinson a longtime church member told 22News, he's delighted with the deeper relationship with the Dubois center. "Dr. Dubois was a storied history of our nation as founding father of of sort in the black community. and he has a rich history here in Springfield. and with this church that date back to the early 1900s."

St. John's Congregational church was founded back in 1844 by John Brown one of the most famous of the anti-slave activists. The church has more than 3 thousand members.