Black Baptists have been well-established in Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia since the early nineteenth century. Their vibrant presence is testimony to the acceptance of blacks in Baptist churches, a preponderance of free blacks in the area, and three decades (the 1820s-1850s) as a disembarkation point for African American missionaries traveling to Liberia through the efforts…
First Baptist Ellettsville, Indiana was established in 1858 by 28 persons, men and women, who initially met in members’ homes to worship and pray. Within a few short years, the congregation constructed a simple meeting house, a frame building costing a mere $95. The price of the church building reveals the common folk nature of…
The destruction of Baptist churches throughout the South continues, even in the bitter cold of winter as the the year 1863 draws to a close. The Greenville, North Carolina Red Banks Primitive Baptist Church, founded in 1758, is burned today by Union forces. To make matters worse, the act is perpetuated in part by a…