In 1941 under the hot Mississippi sun, Alex Harper was six years old and chopping cotton in a field alone, while his father and brother worked in a nearby field.
His father, Odis Harper, was a sharecropper and the family moved from small home to small home, renting land from white landowners during segregation, the Great Depression and Jim Crow laws, paying the landowners a share of their crop for rent. Both his parents were working, but the children had to work, too, to make ends meet.
“People passing by would stop their cars to look at me and marvel ‘look at that little boy chop,’” Harper explained for a family history. “When I heard that, I began to chop even harder and faster.”
Harper’s lifelong work ethic saw him rise from a sharecropper to a railroad worker at 16 years old to senior pastor of First Baptist Institutional Church, president of Florida Theological Seminary and Bible College, and director of the Congress for First South Florida Missionary Baptist District Association.
Harper, who held a doctorate in theology and an honorary doctorate of divinity, died on Jan. 22 — a month shy of his 89th birthday.
“Rev. Harper was a diligent, faithful, loving steward and servant for the Lord,” said former Lakeland Mayor Gow Fields. “He had an infectious smile and a tremendous love for people. He truly had the heart of a pastor as he tended to the many spiritual and life needs of the congregation he pastored, as well as the needs of those outside of his own congregation.”
Fields explained that Harper and his wife Martha were friends of his parents for more than 50 years and his pastor for nearly 26 years.
“His life was a great testimony of being a ‘living sermon’ beyond his role as a pastor through his Christian education leadership and his bold leadership in bringing Biblical justice to the communities in which he served,” Fields said.
Early life
Rev. Alex Harper, Sr., was born on Feb. 23, 1935, in Nettleton, Miss., the second of 10 children born to Rev. Odis and Rozena Harper.
Their sharecropping life ended when the senior Rev. Harper bought 40 acres for farming and six acres in town.
Harper recalled that in the late 1940s and 1950s, jobs on the railroad paid more than jobs in the teaching field.
“Many Black teenagers idolized those working on the railroad because they dressed well and drove nice cars,” he said. “So, I left school and began working on the railroad at the age of 16.”
After about a year, he moved to Gary, Ind., and worked odd jobs including picking cabbage, washing cars, and boxing before going to work at U.S. Steel Mill Corp. in a factory.
His family said it was early on in life that Rev. Harper “learned to put God first, work hard, respect authority, and to love family.”
During a trip home from Indiana, Rev. Harper met his wife Martha. Her grandfather lived next door to Harper’s great uncle and aunt in Okolona, Miss. After he returned to Indiana, the couple wrote back and forth and eloped in March 1955.
That was the same year he entered the ministry.
Journey to ministry
After working in the steel mills of Gary for a few years, Rev. Harper heard that Florida was a good place to live and had better job opportunities. So, in 1959, Rev. Harper his wife Martha, and their sons Alex, Jr., and Rayford moved to Lakeland.
Rev. Harper heard about an adult night school in Lakeland and he enrolled in 1961, taking pride in receiving his high school diploma. Later, a fellow minister encouraged Rev. Harper to continue his education by going to the college he attended — Florida Memorial University in St. Augustine.
Meanwhile, as Rev. Harper studied at Florida Memorial University, he became a minister.
Spanning a period of over 60 years (1961 to 2024), Rev. Harper served eight congregations:
- 1961-1962 — Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in West Auburndale.
- 1962-1966 — Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Medulla.
- 1966-1968 — Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in Brooksville.
- 1968–1974 — Greater St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Lakeland.
- 1974–1983 — St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Arcadia.
- 1983-1984 — St. John First Baptist Institutional Church in Palmetto.
- 1984–1997 — Bible Baptist Church in Palmetto.
- 1997–2024 — First Baptist Institutional Church in Lakeland.
While pastoring, Rev. Harper received a bachelor of arts degree from Florida Memorial University, a master’s degree in biblical studies from the Tampa extension of Dallas Seminary, a doctorate in theology from Florida Theological Seminary, and an honorary doctorate of divinity from Berean Christian College and Seminary. His well-worn Bible with a black cover and notes jutting out of its pages was always with him.
Friends and family say Rev. Harper devoted his life to serving God and helping people, including his work in civil rights, which helped people of all races throughout Polk County, the state of Florida, and across the country.
He served on commissions, advisory boards and councils, conventions, committees and alliances. He received awards and was recognized by the NAACP, Florida Memorial University, the Progressive M & E Baptist State Convention of Florida, First South Florida Missionary Baptist District Association and organizations throughout the U.S.
Rev. Harper served as the last president of the State Congress of the Progressive M&E Baptist State Convention of Florida.
When he died last week, Rev. Harper was still serving as senior pastor of First Baptist Institutional Church, president of Florida Theological Seminary and Bible College and director of the Congress for First South Florida Missionary Baptist District Association.
He and Martha, who were married for nearly 70 years, had three sons: Alex Jr., Rayford and Roger; and a daughter, Yolanda.
They said as a father, he emphasized five things: “love God, work hard, value family, get an education and save your money!”
Visitation and funeral
Visitation is today from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. with the funeral set for Friday, Feb. 2, at 11 a.m. Both are being held at First Baptist Institutional Church, 932 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. in Lakeland.
latest news
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.