The U.S. flag being raised atop the Jefferson County Courthouse in Louisville in 1861. (from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 16, 1861)
The inaugural meeting of the State Convention of Colored Baptists in Kentucky continues this day in the Fifth Street Baptist Church of Louisville.
Some 5,000 persons are present, representative of a dozen congregations in the state. The first officers of the convention are: Rev. H. Adams, pastor of Fifth Street Baptist Church, Louisville as President; Brother Vincent Helm, Green Street Baptist Church, Louisville, Vice President; Rev. E. E. Hansbrough, Secretary; Brother Peter Smith, of Frankfort, Kentucky, Treasurer.
The convention grows steadily in the next few years, with some 6,620 persons attending the 1868 annual gathering from 27 churches. At this session the name was changed to General Association of Colored Baptists in Kentucky
One of the “largest and most enthusiastic sessions of the General Association was the 48th annual session held in Emmanuel Baptist Church, Louisville, KY, August 13-17. 1913.”
By that point the organization, then known as the General Association of Colored Baptists of Kentucky, primarily operates the Kentucky Normal & Theological Institute, in 1918 renamed Simmons College.
During the fifty years following the war, the college provides education for many hundreds of African Americans.
Source: “History,” General Association of Baptists in Kentucky (link)
