At Tuskegee, in Macon, was the Rev. Doc. Phillips (a blacksmith), a man who, it seems, refused to accept his freedom at the hands of his white brethren in order that his preaching might be more acceptable to his people in slavery.
At Auburn, in Lee, was the Rev. Thomas Glenn, a man respected and trusted no less by his white neighbors than by his own people for his genuine piety and honorable life.
In Barbour and Bullock, Revs. Jerry Shorter, M. Coleman, William McCoo and Deacon J. E. Timothy possessed the spirit of leadership, and moved forward in the work of organization upon the appearance of liberty. Rev. E. Thornton soon appears.
GREENVILLE, BUTLER COUNTY.
In this town and county the Rev. Stewart Adams is the pioneer. In 1872 or 1873, he was appointed missionary under the American Baptist Home Mission Society, and was thus enabled to extend his operations, which resulted in the organization of one of the first associations (Union).
SELMA.
Somewhere between 1840-45, a colored church was organized in Selma, the first colored leader of which was a Mr. Samuel Phillips, a man who obtained his liberty (so the late Mr. A. Goldsby reported) by some service he rendered the country in the Mexican war. A. Goldsby and Charles White (late treasurer of our Convention) were principal persons in the organization.
So much has been said to show the ante-liberty growths. It seems fitting to close this chapter with the appearance of freedom as the writer saw it.
From the days of my earliest recollection, freedom’s shadowy forms moved before the eyes of the Southern slave. He felt or thought that he felt—he saw or thought he saw—the touch and visage of approaching liberty. In subdued tones it was whispered upon ears that could be trusted, that slavery, with all its accompanying horrors, was soon to be a thing of the past. Praying bands were organized and met in distant groves to pray for liberty. Gathered beneath the sighing trees and nightly skies, they whispered their agonies upon the ears of the Almighty—whispered lowly, lest the passing winds should bear their petitions to the ears of the overseer or master. And often—as with Daniel and his companions in Babylon—the God who reveals secrets to them that love him, uncovered before our minds coming events, which caused us to laugh and cry. But we kept these things in our hearts, and it was a wonder to all around that the slave could sing in his furnace of hot afflictions. God, in unfolding hope, was with us in the fire, and so we were sustained.