San Francisco icon Dr. Amos Brown says he's 'repositioning,' not retiring, from Third Baptist Church

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco is celebrating a true civil rights original this weekend: Dr. Amos Brown, pastor at the city's Third Baptist Church for nearly 50 years, is stepping aside. On Saturday, there were tributes and a street renaming ceremony.

The street in front of San Francisco's Third Baptist Church, Pierce Street, has a new name. It was re-dedicated by the city as "Dr. Amos C. Brown Way," honoring the man who led this church for nearly half a century.

"Reverend Brown, your name belongs on the street because your life has shaped it step by step for nearly half a century," said San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.

At 84, Brown is stepping aside at his church, one of the oldest predominantly African American Baptist congregations in the West -- but don't call it retirement.

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"I'm not actually retiring. I'm repositioning," Brown said.

"Reverend Brown, some of you know his history. He's a walking, living historian, but he's been through the trenches and has stood up to injustices, put his life on the line for others," said former San Francisco Mayor London Breed.

Amos Brown was never shy to speak his mind. Born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1941, Brown has been a man of many titles: scholar, activist and civil rights leader. As a college student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Brown was one of only eight students in the only class Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ever taught there. He and King were once arrested together, along with 50 others.

"Dr. King, my teacher, was right when he said, 'If we don't learn to live together as brothers and sisters, we're all going to perish as fools,'" Brown said.

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Brown served as a San Francisco supervisor beginning in the 1990s. He was an early supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and helped activate the faith-based community around important causes.

"Amos Brown has been in and out of each of those in one way or another and inspired them to participate on an organized basis where there was ever injustice," said former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

Brown transitions to his new role as pastor emeritus after giving his final sermon Sunday on the street that bears his name.

"Thank you, Third Baptist, for letting me serve here a little while," Brown said.