This month Richmond’s First African Baptist Church debates pastoral leadership. White minister Robert Ryland, president of Richmond College, has long been their preacher, as antebellum and Civil War laws mandated that black congregations must be overseen by a white minister. Ryland, although a defender of black slavery, was somewhat controversial in that he advocated for…
With the war over, former slaveowners who at one time were the elites of the South face a future devoid of privilege, power and riches. The thought of starting over without slave labor is daunting. And in the minds of many, living in a United States where blacks are free and equal to whites is…
The closing months of the war have been a bitter time for many white Floridians. Florida governor John Milton, despairing of the collapse of the Confederacy early in the year, had committed suicide on April 1. His last words to the legislature had been, “Death would be preferable to reunion.” When news of the Lee’s…