Baptists and Race in the American South

Abstract

The essay explores the attitude of Baptists in the American South towards race, indicating that the issue is long lasting. It includes a survey of racism in the early nineteenth century, culminating in the civil war, but extending to the Jim Crow era and the more recent expressions of white supremacy. Special attention is paid to the formation and development of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the ‘repentance’ of the Convention at the 1995 Southern Baptist Convention with respect to its origins in 1845 over the issue of slavery. The article also examines the way in which integration at Samford University, a Baptist school in Alabama, illustrates the struggle for equality between the races.