Black Baptist Women’s Movement

Black Baptists were significant players in the development of American Christianity. For the past 300 years, they have made enduring contributions to the identity of black people. [Page 196]Women have constituted the majority of many Christian groups, but this is especially true for the black Baptists, whose female congregants continue to represent more than two-thirds of the entire denomination. The work of the Black Baptist Women’s Movement proved crucial to the development of the denomination, as well as to betterment of the lives of many African American women.

The roots of the Baptist denomination date back as far as the 17th century, in some of the first-known small black churches of America. Between 1770 and 1835, black Baptists began forming their own congregations and regional associations. ...