The New York Times responds to the addition, in recent months, of “In God We Trust” on certain United States coins, voicing a decidedly traditional Baptist view of church state separation: “In compliance with an act of Congress the Director of the Mint has caused the legend “In God we Trust” to be engraved in…
Today Jacob Eliot, a Baptist layman, lawyer and former slaveowner from Corsicana, Texas, is not entirely happy about the end of slavery. Nonetheless, today he uses his legal position to help four freedmen who apparently had not been his slaves. “I procured license for Joe McCullough and Charlie Thomas, two old freedmen – to get…
Under Union occupation during the Civil War, Alexandria, Virginia became a safe haven for runaway slaves (also known as contraband). Near an old slave pen area on Duke Street the Shiloh Baptist Church, a congregation of former slaves, began on March 29, 1863. The first worship service was held in a U.S. government mess hall.…