Today the First Regiment South Carolina Volunteers (Union), a regiment of former slaves based in Union-controlled Beaufort, returns from an exploratory expedition in South Georgia and Florida. Many Baptists serve in the regiment. They and their fellow soldiers know that the regiment’s white officers are evaluating their performance as the United States government contemplates raising…
Michigan’s oldest black congregation, the Second Baptist Church, was founded in 1836 by thirteen former slaves. In 1839 the congregation established the city’s first school for black children. Second Baptist’s first pastor, the Reverend William C. Monroe, was a noted anti-slavery activist. In 1843 Monroe presided over the first State Convention of Colored Citizens, which…
Among black Baptists of the North and the Union-controlled South, excitement is building for U. S. President Abraham Lincoln‘s forthcoming Emancipation Proclamation. Enslaved blacks in the Confederacy are also quietly anticipating the moment, while yet realizing that legal and official freedom will mean nothing until–and if–the slave-based Confederacy is defeated by the United States. Awaiting…