Throughout the South many black Baptist churches are now hosting schools for freedmen, both children and adults. White Southerners for generations prevented slaves from obtaining education via state and local laws. Many insisted that blacks were simply unable to learn. Now, against the wishes of many whites who believe that blacks should remain in servitude,…
In the midst of secession fever in January 1861, the (white) First Baptist Church of Nashville, Tennessee established a “Second Colored Baptist Mission” in Edgefield, east of Nashville’s downtown, on Fatherland Street. The mission church was supervised by a white committee and pastored by George Dardis, a free black preacher. Nelson G. Merry, free black…
In Washington, D.C. today U. S. Senator John B. Henderson of Missouri submits a joint resolution for a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. Although the legislation does not pass this year, Henderson’s resolution signifies the momentum of the movement toward the enactment of the Thirteenth Amendment and the abolishing of slavery on February 1, 1865. Meanwhile,…