On Hilton Head Island on the coast of South Carolina a convention of Colored Baptist churches assembles this day at Mitchelville. The South Carolina coast since 1862 has been home to tens of thousands of freedmen. The initial free blacks in the area were liberated during the war by the Union Army during the war…
In the fall months of 1864 many newly-freed blacks from the Border State of Kentucky enrolled in the Union Army. Also in late 1864, more and more emancipated black Baptists, no longer forced by their masters to attend white churches, began meeting autonomously. The ensuing months have witnessed a continued exodus of black Baptists from…
Tensions between Southern white citizens and freedmen show no signs of abating. From Virginia to Texas, a tug of war is unfolding between Northern (American) Baptists who are aiding freedmen, and Southern Baptists who resent the meddling of Northerners. Today in Natchez, Mississippi, four black deacons of the Wall Street Baptist Church petition U.S. President…