The news of the Emancipation Proclamation has now spread throughout the North, as well as much of the South. Southern whites–including Southern Baptist newspaper editors–largely ignore the news, knowing that Abraham Lincoln‘s words are effectively meaningless as long as the Confederacy exists. Some Southern slaves hear whispers of a freedom announced from far away, hoping…
At Boston’s Twelfth Baptist Church, the celebration of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation continues until after the sun rises. Today’s Boston Journal thus describes the scene of the prior night (at the Tremont Baptist Church) and early morning hours of this day (at the Twelfth Baptist Church): the grand demonstration in this city, yesterday,…
Christmas is not yet a national holiday, nor do Baptists North or South recognize the day as either a holiday or a holy day. However, the era of modern Christmas celebrations is presaged with an illustration by illustrator and cartoonist Thomas Nast, who this holiday season publishes in Harper’s Weekly what is considered to be the…