In Hopkins, South Carolina the white Beulah Baptist Church today ordains William Weston Adams to the ministry. Adams is a former slave, one of three who are ordained in the post-war months of 1865 by Beulah’s pastor, James Lawrence Reynolds. Like many Baptist churches in South Carolina, the Beulah Baptist Church has far more black…
Under Union occupation during the Civil War, Alexandria, Virginia became a safe haven for runaway slaves (also known as contraband). Near an old slave pen area on Duke Street the Shiloh Baptist Church, a congregation of former slaves, began on March 29, 1863. The first worship service was held in a U.S. government mess hall.…
Today in Union-occupied Alexandria, Virginia yet another African Baptist congregation is formed in the aftermath of the Emancipation Proclamation. The church narrates its beginnings in the following way: During the Civil War, the Union Army occupied the City of Alexandria to prevent the Confederate Army from having a route into Washington, D.C., the capitol. Since…