Today is the Sabbath, and James W. Stovall, an Alabama slave born in 1837–the son of a white slaveowner and his house mistress–secures permission to attend a Baptist church that is now located behind federal lines in Union-occupied Decatur (at the time known as Cater), Alabama. Stovall, years later and living in Winona, Illinois, describes…
Frederick Douglass, the most prominent African American proponent of abolitionism, has more than a few friends among Baptists of the North. It is with high hopes that many northern Baptists and Christians at large hear or read Douglass’ 4th of July address, entitled “The Slaveholders’ Rebellion” and delivered in New York, here noted in part:…
In 1846, one year after Baptists North and South had divided over the issue of African slavery, white and black Baptists in Stonington, Connecticut reached a mutual decision regarding their respective but related future. African members of the First Baptist Church petitioned their white brethren: Beloved Brethren: Believing that the time has come when the…