Silver Bluff Baptist Church - Timeline Event
Founder
George Liele, David George
Time Period
1775
Description
Silver Bluff Baptist Church was the first black Baptist church in America. It was founded on a plantation near Savannah over the course of 1773-1775 by David George and other slaves who had been converted by George Liele, the first black Baptist convert in Georgia. During the Revolutionary War, many of the congregants relocated to British-occupied Savannah. They hoped for their freedom in keeping with British General Dunmore's proclamation in 1775, which promised to free slaves who supported the British army. These refugees formed the First African Baptist Church, which remained one of the largest black churches in America well into the early 19th century. Several former members of Silver Bluff Baptist Church ended up as foreign missionaries, including George Liele, who went to Jamaica, and David George himself, who founded churches in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone.
Interactive Timeline(s)
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Religious Groups
Baptist Family: Other ARDA LinksBaptist Family: Religious Family Tree
Biographies
Liele, GeorgePhotographs
Silver Bluff Baptist Church- Internet Archive- from the History of the Negro Church by Carter G. Woodson
George Leile portrait- Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives
Book/Journal Source(s)
Raboteau, Albert J., 2004. Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South Oxford: Oxford University Press.Web Source(s)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Bluff_Baptist_ChurchWeb Page Contributor
Paul MatzkoAffliated with: Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D. in History
