Today, the one-year anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, is a joyous occasion among free blacks, many of whom have obtained freedom within the past year. The year since the signing of the proclamation has witnessed a revolution in race relations. Prior to the proclamation, many Northern whites were uncertain that freed blacks would prove worthy…
On this last night of the year, free black Baptist congregations throughout the United States and Union-controlled areas of the South observe the January 1 anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation with a “watchnight” service of celebration and prayer for God-granted freedom. There is certainly much to celebrate. Tens of thousands of blacks have been emancipated…
As the war moves into its third winter, the state of Virginia, home to Richmond, the capital city of the Confederacy, struggles all the more. The Virginia General Assembly is in session in Richmond today, the fifth day of the 1863-1864 session. Jeremiah Bell Jeter, pastor of the city’s Grace Street Baptist Church and ardent…