Silver Bluff Baptist Church facts for kids
The Silver Bluff Baptist Church was started around 1774 or 1775. It was founded in Beech Island, South Carolina, by several enslaved African Americans. They came together under the leadership of an elder named David George.
Many historians believe Silver Bluff Baptist Church was the very first separate church for Black people in the United States. However, some others think the First Baptist Church in Petersburg, Virginia, might have been first.
During the American Revolutionary War, the British army took control of Savannah, Georgia, in 1778. The British had promised freedom to enslaved people who escaped from rebel owners. So, David George and about 30 enslaved members of his church went to Savannah to find freedom. The church members who stayed in Savannah after the war eventually became the First African Baptist Church.
David George was a very important person in the early movement of Black Baptist churches. After the war, the British helped him and other Black Loyalists move to Nova Scotia in Canada. There, he started another church. Later, in 1792, George and his family moved to Freetown, Sierra Leone, in West Africa. This was a new colony started by the British. He also founded a church there.
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How the Church Began
During a time called the Great Awakening, many Baptist and Methodist preachers traveled through the southern parts of the United States. They shared their beliefs with white people, and also with enslaved and free Black people. The Baptist churches were especially welcoming. They allowed Black people to take on important roles, and some Black men became licensed preachers and elders.
Early Founders and Meetings
The Silver Bluff Baptist Church was started by enslaved African Americans. They were inspired by a white Baptist minister named Wait Palmer. Another enslaved preacher named George Leile might have also helped. There were eight original founders. These included David George and his wife, and Jesse Peter (also known as Jesse Galphin).
Wait Palmer was very impressed by David George's preaching. Because of this, he chose George to be the elder, or leader, of the group. More people joined them, and they began meeting around 1774 or 1775. Their meetings took place at Galphin's Mill, which was owned by George's enslaver, George Galphin.
War Changes Everything
In 1778, the British army took over Savannah, which was across the river from the church. This caused big changes for the church. George Galphin, David George's enslaver, supported the American side in the war. He moved away from his plantation.
David George and about 30 enslaved members of the Silver Bluff Baptist Church went to Savannah. They were looking for the freedom the British had promised. In Savannah, they joined up with another preacher named George Leile and his group.
New Homes and New Churches
After the war ended in 1782, David George and his family left with the British. They were among thousands of formerly enslaved people who found freedom this way. The British kept their promise and took them to Nova Scotia. David George continued to preach there and started another Baptist church in Shelburne. George Leile went to Jamaica with the British. He founded a Baptist church in Kingston.
In 1792, the George family moved again. They left Nova Scotia and went to the new colony of Sierra Leone. British people who were against slavery helped them make this move. David George was one of the people who helped start Freetown. He also founded its first Baptist church.
Churches That Continued the Legacy
Andrew Bryan was another early Black Baptist preacher in Georgia. He was converted in 1782 and was the only one of the first three preachers to stay in Savannah. He later bought his own freedom and his wife's freedom. He kept preaching and converting people. In 1788, he officially started the First African Baptist Church of Savannah. In 1793, he bought land for a church building, which the congregation finished in 1794. This church grew very large, with over 400 members before Bryan passed away.
After the war in 1783, Jesse Peter Galphin led other Baptist members from the original Silver Bluff church. He had gained his freedom and moved to Augusta, Georgia. There, they started the first African Baptist church in that city. It later became known as Springfield Baptist Church. Because Jesse Peter Galphin was connected to the very first Silver Bluff congregation, a historian named Walter Brooks said in 1922 that Springfield Baptist Church was the oldest Black Baptist church in the nation.
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