This collection highlights the role of religion and the church in the lives of the enslaved and the freedmen of the south. It covers such topics as Abolition, Education, Ministers, Songs, Sermons, and (church) history and customs. There are 63 online life histories of various personalities, from John Jea (African preacher) to James Varich (A.M.E. Zion Church founder) to The Rev. Alexander Bettis and the Bettis Academy (S.C.).
There is also an online version of the entire work by Charles Octavius Booth, titled The Cyclopedia of the Colored Baptists of Alabama: Their Leaders and Their Work, with many pictures.

For more information, see the UNC's website: Documenting the American South at http://www.docsouth.unc.edu

¹ "The Church in the Southern Black Community, 1870-1925, Library of Congress and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. American Memory .
The transcriptions in this collection are the property of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.