Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama

by Walter L. Fleming

The attempt at Reconstruction in the churches had practically failed. Only the Episcopal Church, one of the weakest in numbers, had reunited.[1825] The others seemed farther apart than ever.

The other denominations had recognized the legal division of their churches before the war. Now they acted on the principle that territory conquered for the United States was also conquered for the northern churches. Southern ministers and members were asked to submit to degrading conditions in order to be restored to good standing. They must repudiate their former opinions, and renouncing their sins, ask for pardon and restoration. Naturally no reunion resulted.

Sec. 2. The Churches and the Negro during Reconstruction

At the end of the war nearly every congregation had black members as well as white, the blacks often being the more numerous. With the changed conditions, the various denominations felt it necessary to make declarations of policy in regard to the former slaves. General Swayne, Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau in Alabama, in his report for 1866, stated that at an early date the several denominations expressed themselves as being strongly in favor of the education of the negro. “The principal argument,” he said, “was an appeal to sectional and sectarian prejudice, lest, the work being inevitable, the influence which must come from it be realized by others; but it is believed that this was the shield and weapon which men of unselfish principle found necessary at first.”[1826]

The Baptists and the Negroes

The Alabama Baptist Convention, in 1865, passed the following resolution in regard to the relations between the white and black members:—

“Resolved, That the changed civil status of our late slaves does not necessitate any change in their relations to our churches; and while we recognize their right to withdraw from our churches and form organizations of their own, we nevertheless believe that their highest good will be subserved by their retaining their present relation to those who know them, who love them, and who will labor for the promotion of their welfare.”

The Convention also ordered renewed exertions in the work among the negroes by means of lectures, private instruction, and Sunday-schools.[1827] In 1866 the North Alabama Baptist Association directed that provision be made for the religious welfare of the negroes and for their education in the common schools. The negroes were to be allowed to choose their own pastors and teachers from among the whites.[1828] But soon the results of the work of the northern missionaries and political emissaries were seen in the separation of the two races in religious matters. The negroes were taught that the whites were their enemies, and that they must have their own separate churches. They were encouraged to assert their rights by obstructing in all the affairs of the churches, and in the north Alabama Baptist churches, where they were in the majority, there was danger that they would take advantage of the democratic system of the church government and, prompted by emissaries from the North, control the administration. They were, therefore, assisted by the whites to form separate congregations and associations.[1829]

The principal work of the northern Baptists in central and south Alabama was to separate the blacks into independent churches, and the second Colored Baptist Convention in the United States was organized in Alabama in 1867. The free form of government of this church attracted both ministers and members. In 1868 Bethel Association (white) reported that a large number of the negroes desired no religious instruction from the whites, although they were in great need of it, and that this opposition was caused by ignorance and prejudice. But, the report stated, there should be no relaxation in the effort to impart to them a knowledge of the Gospel; that the first duty of the church was to instruct the ignorant and superstitious at home before sending missionaries to the far-off heathen; that all self-constituted negro preachers who claimed personal interviews with God and personal instruction from Him should be discouraged, and only the best men selected as pastors. Advice and assistance were now given to the negro congregations, which were organized into associations as soon as possible. In 1872 three negro churches with a white pastor applied for admission to Bethel Association. But it was thought best to maintain separate associations.[1830] For years the white Baptists of Alabama exercised a watchful care over the colored Baptists, whom they assisted in the work of organizing congregations and associations, and in the erection of schoolhouses and churches. Church and school buildings destroyed by the Ku Klux Klan were rebuilt by the whites, even when the colored congregation was only moderately well behaved. The whites in Montgomery contributed to build the first negro Baptist church in that city, and a white minister preached the sermon when the church was dedicated and turned over to the blacks. A number of white ladies were present at the services.[1831] For fifteen years Dr. I. T. Tichenor was pastor of the First Baptist Church in Montgomery. During that time he baptized over 500 negroes into its fellowship. At the end of the war there were 300 white and 600 negro members. Dr. Tichenor tells the story of the separation as follows: “When a separation of the two bodies was deemed desirable, it was done by the colored brethren, in conference assembled, passing a resolution, couched in the kindliest terms, suggesting the wisdom of the division, and asking the concurrence of the white church in such action. The white church cordially approved the movement, and the two bodies united in erecting a suitable house of worship for the colored brethren. Until it was finished they continued to occupy jointly with the white brethren their house of worship, as they had done previous to this action. The new house was paid for in large measure by the white members of the church and individuals in the community. As soon as it was completed the colored church moved into it with its organization all perfected, their pastor, board of deacons, committees of all sorts; and the whole machinery of church life went into action without a jar. Similar things occurred in all the states of the South.”[1832]

The old plantation preachers were ordained and others called and regularly ordained to the ministry by the whites. But good negro preachers were overwhelmed by an influx of “self-called” pastors who were often incompetent and often immoral. At last the whites seem to have given up as hopeless their work for the negroes. In 1885 an urgent appeal from the Colored Baptist Convention for advice and assistance met with no response from the white convention. Politics and prejudice, imprudent and immoral leaders, had completed the work of separation. Still something was done by the Home Mission Board towards instructing negro preachers and deacons, and in 1895 this Board and the Home Mission Board of the northern Baptists agreed to coöperate and aid such negro conventions as might desire it. But the Alabama negro convention has not yet asked for assistance.[1833]