About
American Baptist College (previously American Baptist Theological Seminary) is a private, historically black Baptist college in Nashville, Tennessee, affiliated with the National Baptist Convention, USA. The school was founded in 1924. Upon accreditation by the American Association of Bible Colleges in 1971, ABTS dropped use of the term "Theological Seminary" and renamed itself American Baptist College.
American Baptist Theological Seminary students and faculty played major roles in the Civil Rights Movement, especially in the Nashville Student Movement and 1960 Nashville sit-ins. John Lewis, Bernard Lafayette, James Bevel, C. T. Vivian, Kelly Miller Smith, William Barbee, Julius Scruggs, and John F. Grimmett were among the activists who played major roles.