Today the Georgia Baptist Association convenes in Oglethorpe County at Bairds Church. The association is the oldest of such Baptist bodies in Georgia. Today the gathering is called to order, followed by a sermon, singing, prayer and the reading of letters (correspondence) from “the Churches” of the association. Committees are also appointed, from which reports…
Today the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church of Norfolk, Virginia, an African American congregation, is officially founded, one of many black Baptist churches established this month. The church traces its origins to the antebellum period, during which time two slaves — Jacob Cargo and Elijah Lively — held prayers meetings in the Norfolk area. The Emancipation…
The Big Creek Baptist Church of South Carolina today issues its first formal statement pertaining to freedpersons: Should “colored members” leave “their former owners without leave, they shall notify the church.” They then “must apply for letters of dismission within the space of six months or their names shall be erased from the church book.”…