From Whence They Came: Origins Of The Missionary Baptists In Southwest Georgia,1865-1900

Abstract

Following the Civil War, Blacks in Southwest Georgia withdrew from the White Baptists churches of their former masters and formed independent congregations. Their departure has been described as an exodus. The Baptist churches established by former slaves in the last half of the 19th century are historically important. These congregations and the people who organized them were the forerunners of today’s Missionary Baptists. The Missionary Baptists’ history unfolded in Reconstruction and continued to manifest in the Jim Crow society that prevailed in the South. However, research on Black Baptists at the regional and local levels has been largely unexplored. In obscurity are pioneers who blazed a trail of faith in God and set in motion what Carter G. Woodson and others have called the Negro Church. What began many years ago as their religious experience lives on today, but the stories of their time have not been told. In a manner of speaking, Southwest Georgia’s Black Baptists of the past have not had an appropriate burial because they are unsung heroes. Their contributions to posterity are shadowed by time, inconspicuous, and therefore not fully appreciated. Their generation created many churches and associations that are vibrant today. The purpose of this research is reflected in the words of a gospel song; let us all go back, back to the old landmark. This research tells a story about the early Black Baptists in Southwest Georgia.