Today the first Convention of Colored Citizens of the State of Arkansas is gathered in Little Rock. Many Baptists are among those present. The purpose of the convention is to exert the rights of freedmen and ensure that white Southerners respect their freedom. The road thus far has been brutal, and a future of true…
Today long-time Kentucky Baptist layman and former state politician Leonard Stephens writes to his brother William. Lamenting, in part, the difficulties he is having with his former slaves, Stephens offers a snapshot of white-black relations in the post-war months: “Since you left I have been considerably troubled over the threatening of my negroes to leave…
Many Baptists were Union prisoners of war at Andersonville Prison Camp in southwest Georgia, some of whom died in captivity due to the harsh conditions of the open-air prison. Among the Baptist survivors is Alfred D. Bennet of Huntingdon, Tennessee, one of many from west Tennessee who served in the Union Army. Bennet is scarred…