Pag« 6 Portland Observer Saction II February 28.1980
1693 — Reverened Cotton Mathers, a founder o f Yale
University, organized a "Society for Negroes.” He ad
vised the slaves "
to be good and faithful servants in
order to enjoy the great privileges o f Heaven.”
1701 —To counteract the success that the Methodists,
Baptists and Presbyterians (to a lesser degree) were
having with the underclass (including slaves) in the
colonies, the Church o f England formed the Society for
the Propagation o f the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Slaves
were required to declare, under oath, that their conver
sion was for the "hereafter.”
¡726 — Exhorters (untrained ministers or evangelists
who were well-versed in the Bible) met with great suc
cess in proselytizing free Blacks in the North;
and
overseers and (clandestinely) slaves in the South.
1744 — Jacobus Eliza Johannes Capitein was the first
African to receive Protestant ordination. As a member
o f the Dutch Reformed Church, he was appointed
Chaplain at Cape Coast.
1764 —Christian Protten, a European educated Ghan-
lan, produced a grammar in the Fanti language that in
cluded selections from the Bible.
1765 — P hilip Quaque, ordained by the Church o f
England, was responsible for the religious training o f
the Negroes on the Gold Coast. He served the difficult
post for 50 years.
Moravians developed a mission in Barbados. By the
end o f the century, they had converted close to four
thousand slaves.
¡772 —Slavery was essentially abolished in England by
a judicial decree.
¡773 —The first Black Baptist church was founded at
Silver Bluff, South Carolina.
First Colored Baptist Church in North America at
Savannah, Georgia, 1788.
Congratulations on a
History o f Accomplishment
and Best Wishes fo r All
Success in the Future
Commissioner
Frank Ivancie