The formation of autonomous black Baptist churches in the South continues unabated. Today in the deep South town of Albany, Georgia the Mount Zion Baptist church is established in a blacksmith shop on the corner of State and Jackson streets. The Rev. R. R. Watson is the church’s founding pastor. Within six months a second…
John Henry Yates (1828-1897) was born into slavery in Virginia. Although Virginia law forbade the teaching of slaves to read or write, the children of Yates’ master taught a young Yates how to read. The Bible was his favorite book. As a young man he “married” (marriage being informal for slaves, due to state laws)…
White southerners outside of South Carolina harbor mixed feelings about the recent secession of South Carolina from the Union. Planters support the action. Many poor white common folks, on the other hand, although largely in agreement regarding black slavery, see no benefit to themselves of their states separating from the United States. But in the…