Founded in 1638 under the leading of Roger Williams, the First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island was the first Baptist congregation in the New World. In both religious and civic life, the early Baptists of Rhode Island, despite intense opposition from nearby colonial theocracies, chartered a course of freedom of conscience, religious liberty for…
Today Edgar Harkness Gray (1813-1894) becomes the first Baptist appointed as Chaplain of the U.S. Senate. A Vermont native, Gray was converted to the Baptist faith at the age of twelve. Following a period of schooling, he was ordained to the ministry and served churches in Maine and Massachusetts before accepting the pastorate of Washington…
Prior to the war and despite the growing abolitionist movement, discriminatory laws against black citizens were common in the North. Known as “black laws,” the regulations often prevented blacks from voting, serving on juries, testifying in court against a white person or signing contracts. Freedom, in short, while real nonetheless came with restrictions for black…