This month in Virginia the American Baptist Home Mission society establishes the Richmond Institute, a school devoted to the training of African American preachers and teachers. Twenty-four initially enroll, and the classes are held at night. The following year the name of the school is changed to the National Theological Institute of Richmond, and in…
Today long-time Kentucky Baptist layman and former state politician Leonard Stephens writes to his brother William. Lamenting, in part, the difficulties he is having with his former slaves, Stephens offers a snapshot of white-black relations in the post-war months: “Since you left I have been considerably troubled over the threatening of my negroes to leave…
Many Baptists were Union prisoners of war at Andersonville Prison Camp in southwest Georgia, some of whom died in captivity due to the harsh conditions of the open-air prison. Among the Baptist survivors is Alfred D. Bennet of Huntingdon, Tennessee, one of many from west Tennessee who served in the Union Army. Bennet is scarred…