The African American Second Baptist Church of Hampton, Virginia was established in the months following the end of the Civil War. This week the congregation makes preparations for a celebration of January 1, 1866, the third anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, and the first since the effecting of freedom for all blacks with the Union…
Although a mass exodus of black members from white-led Baptist churches of the South is well underway, many post-war Southern Baptist churches retain large numbers of black members. In instances where blacks vastly outnumber white members, the whites often are fearful that the majority black members will gain control of the church. Accordingly, many churches…
Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry, during the war a member of the Confederate States House of Representatives and an officer in the Confederate Army, is a prominent Southern Baptist. Now, he serves as the president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention and of Baptists’ Howard College. In January 1866 he is ordained to the Baptist ministry.…