When Northern missionaries, many Baptists, in 1863 onward arrived in the South to work among freedmen, they oftentimes found black congregations led by licensed, and in some cases ordained, preachers. This was especially true in Savannah, where the First African Baptist Church and Third African Baptist Church, both among the older black Baptist churches in…
Today is the second day of a meeting called by Savannah’s black clergy for the purpose of forming the Savannah Education Association. As recorded by William Richardson of the American Missionary Association, participants once again gather at the 1st African Baptist Church, the meeting house that has long served as the public center of black…
Amidst the war, the First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia continues to thrive. Many African Baptists prefer to attend all-black congregations, although even then white ministers maintain a hand in overseeing the operations of such congregations in the South. Savannah’s First African Baptist congregation is comprised of both enslaved and free Africans. The church…