Today in Montgomery, Alabama an “old negro woman” enters one of city’s “principle churches,” walks down the church aisle, and sits down in a seat of her choice. The woman, after all, is now free. Or so she might think. A white church member quickly intercedes, “politely” telling her that the church has “prepared another…
In Alabama colored Baptists are exercising their freedom to organize and attain education. Of these months following the war, one observer noted: “Of course there was no association, no convention, no graded school of learning. The colored people of Mobile enjoyed superior advantages over those of other sections of the State and hence many of…
Josephus Shackelford (1830-1915) of Moulton, Alabama today enters the Baptist newspaper business. From the 1850s to the present he has pastored a number of churches in the Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama region, while also teaching at various small Baptist institutions. He also served in two wars, the War with Mexico and the Civil War. Of…