Excerpt from A History of the Negro Baptists of North Carolina Since communication among the N egroes before the war was altogether. Verbal, confined to narrow lim itations, and since no record was kept of his doings as a churchman, it is impossible to get anything like an accurate statement of his history previous to the emancipation. Since we know that there were in this country at the close of the war four hundred thousand Negro Baptists, and since the Negro Baptists of North Carolina formed a part of that number we know they had an existence of some kind. Consider ing conditions as they were at that time, and taking the statements as we gather them here and there, it is safe to say throughout the entire South they existed only in connection with the white churches. In the history of the North Carolina Baptist State Convem tion, by Rev. Livingston Johnson, we get the follow ing in 1837 The committee on religious instruc tion of slaves urged that places be provided for them in the houses of worship, and that their religious ih struction receive special attention. Relating to another statement in the Convention of 1850 is the following The churches of the State are urged to establish schools for the oral instruction of the colored people. In some instances the colored people were allowed to hold services conducted by some member of their own race in some sections and at specified times, but such meetings were usuallv held under the supervision of a white man, and at his discretion these meetings were brought to a close. In very many instances such meetings were even con ducted by a member of the white race. In matters of discipline, especially if a white member was involved, the colored people had no voice whatever. In matters affecting their own number often some colored brother in whom the church had confidence would make re ports and recommendations. In compliance With the resolution of 1837, which we have already mentioned, in some instances provision was made in the erection of the church edifice by petition, and in the galleries for the accommodation of the colored brethren. In the communion services, after the bread and'wine had been passed to the white brethren, it was passed in turn to the colored brethren. This was regarded by them as a God-sent privilege and a blessing; for which their Amens were often loud and lasting. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.