Rev. Silas Xavier Floyd, D.D.: 1869-1923

An Augusta native, Floyd graduated as valedictorian from both Ware High School and Atlanta University. Returning to Augusta he served as the second pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church and as a public school educator. Floyd co-founded the Negro Press Association of Georgia in 1892 and edited the Augusta Sentinel, an African-American weekly newspaper. Floyd chaired the Colored Charitable Relief Fund in the aftermath of the Great Augusta Fire of 1916. His weekly column in The Augusta Chronicle evolved into "Notes Among the Colored People," which provided social commentary on local African-American life. An early proponent of civil rights, Floyd worked for racial justice through his speeches and writings. Floyd lived in this home from 1906 until his death in 1923. Members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. purchased the property for their chapter house in 1953.