Today the Fourth Baptist Church, an African American congregation, is established in Richmond, Virginia. It is one of hundreds of black Baptist churches formed in the immediate post-war months as freedmen depart white churches, and white supervision, to form their own autonomous congregations. A historical marker tells the church’s story: “Fourth Baptist Church is the…
Mary Richards Bowser (c. 1841 – ?), born into slavery and raised in Richmond, Virginia, has lived an amazing life. Elizabeth Van Lew, of the Van Lew family that owned Bowser, arranged for her education in the North and granted her much freedom prior to the war. From 1855 the young woman served as a…
Today the Colored Shiloh Baptist Association, comprised of individual black congregations in central Virginia, is formed in Richmond. The association is created from a meeting held at Richmond’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. Three congregations in Richmond, three in Petersburg and one in Manchester comprise the seven churches represented whose combined membership is nearly 10,000. Some individual…