Diamond Hill Baptist Church, Lynchburg’s second oldest African American church, was a pivotal local player in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Under the leadership of Rev. Virgil Wood, pastor from 1958 to 1963 and a friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the church was an important meeting place where leaders and activists planned campaigns for registering and turning out voters, integrating the city’s schools, desegregating local lunch counters, and protesting discriminatory hiring practices, among similar activities. Built in 1886 in a Late-Gothic Revival style, later remodeled in 1903 and expanded in 1993, Diamond Hill Baptist Church signifies the growth and influence of black churches during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War.  The church is located in the listed Diamond Hill Historic District.