Today a new Baptist congregation is founded in the South. Unlike most in the immediate post-war years of the South, it is a white congregation. At the First Baptist Church, then located on the northeast corner of Second Street and Adams Street in Memphis, Tennessee, the Central Baptist Church is established. It is composed of…
John Henry Yates (1828-1897) was born into slavery in Virginia. Although Virginia law forbade the teaching of slaves to read or write, the children of Yates’ master taught a young Yates how to read. The Bible was his favorite book. As a young man he “married” (marriage being informal for slaves, due to state laws)…
On this second anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, freedmen North and South celebrate, praising God and giving thanks to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln for leading them out of captivity. For the Confederacy, the storyline of the war has turned into a nightmare. The Southern economy, resting on the free labor of slaves, is in tatters.…