Today the Fourth Baptist Church, an African American congregation, is established in Richmond, Virginia. It is one of hundreds of black Baptist churches formed in the immediate post-war months as freedmen depart white churches, and white supervision, to form their own autonomous congregations. A historical marker tells the church’s story: “Fourth Baptist Church is the…
Some six weeks following the assassination of former president Abraham Lincoln, today has been set aside by president Andrew Johnson as a memorial to Lincoln, a “Day of Humiliation and Prayer.” Hundreds of sermons are delivered this day, many in Baptist churches. In the nation’s capital of Washington, the Calvary Baptist and E Street Baptist…
This year, in the wake of the Emancipation Proclamation, the founding of African Baptist churches proliferates. Unfortunately, the details of the formation of many of these congregations are nebulous. According to one early source, the Fourth Baptist Church, African (later Metropolitan Baptist Church) is formed this month in the District of Columbia “by a few holding…