Did you know there are broken shackles representing the end of slavery partially hidden underneath the skirt of the Statue of Liberty (Lady Liberty)? Wow! It is amazing the extent to which we have been and continue to be willing…
Wine, women and gospel: A perilous inerrancy
In Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South, author John G. Crowley writes that for those Appalachian Baptists, “the use of fermented wine, usually made by the deacons” is standard in their celebration of the Lord’s Supper, a biblical mandate they…
This Christmas, remembering Sam Sharpe and the Baptist War in Jamaica
“I would rather die upon yonder gallows than to live in slavery.” Sam Sharpe wrote these words in a letter to the British Parliament from his jail cell in Jamaica. Sharpe, a Baptist deacon and lay preacher, faced execution for…
Baylor regents allocate $6.3 million for Memorial to Enslaved Persons
Baylor University regents have allocated $6.3 million for construction of a Memorial to Enslaved Persons to be located on Founders Mall at the Waco, Texas, campus. Erecting such a memorial was among recommended actions in the final report of a Commission on…
Missouri church confesses and laments its past ties to slavery
The congregation at First Baptist Church in Columbia, Mo., recently held a worship service devoted to confessing and lamenting the church’s historical connection to slavery. The October service was part a year-long observance of the church’s bicentennial, which will be…
‘The Prayers of Both Could Not Be Answered’: The history of slavery at Wake Forest University and the Baptist church
On Oct. 23, faculty at Wake Forest University gathered to offer a film screening and panel discussion hosted by the institution’s Slavery, Race and Memory Project, an academic committee dedicated to the “examination of the history of slavery and its…
Black gospel music has messages hidden in the grooves
Note: This is the third in a five-part series on the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program made possible by generous funding from the Prichard Family Foundation. Most puzzles and riddles are simply good fun, but sometimes they provide important…
A surprising window into Black Jesus
Architect and art historian Hadley Arnold knew she was in for some surprises when she began transforming an 1830 Rhode Island church into a second home; but she certainly didn’t expect to discover one of America’s most significant works of…
Rethinking Rufus
Four and a half years of living in Fort Worth was long enough for me to gain a greater appreciation of how much the Burleson family name is revered in Texas. I already knew this to be true in North…