A Christianized African _Frontispiece_ Directing the Wanderer in the right Way The Oldest Negro Baptist Church in the United States Lemuel Haynes Andrew Bryan Richard Allen James Varick Peter Williams Christopher Rush Lott Cary M. C. Clayton Sampson White Josiah Henson Noah Davis Samuel R. Ward Alexander Crummell J. W. C. Pennington Henry Highland Garnett Daniel A. Payne Richard DeBaptiste W. H. Miles Wilberforce During the Civil War William J. Simmons James Poindexter J. C. Price H. M. Turner B. W. Arnett W. B. Derrick J. W. Hood L. H. Holsey Rufus L. Perry Charles T. Walker John Jasper E. K. Love W. R. Pettiford M. C. B. Mason George W. Lee Alexander Walters CHAPTER I THE EARLY MISSIONARIES AND THE NEGRO One of the causes of the discovery of America was the translation into action of the desire of European zealots to extend the Catholic religion into other parts. Columbus, we are told, was decidedly missionary in his efforts and felt that he could not make a more significant contribution to the church than to open new fields for Christian endeavor. His final success in securing the equipment adequate to the adventure upon the high seas was to some extent determined by the Christian motives impelling the sovereigns of Spain to finance the expedition for the reason that it might afford an opportunity for promoting the cause of Christ. Some of the French who came to the new world to establish their claims by further discovery and exploration, moreover, were either actuated by similar motives or welcomed the cooperation of earnest workers thus interested. The first persons proselyted by the Spanish and French missionaries were Indians. There was not any particular thought of the Negro. It may seem a little strange just now to think of persons having to be converted to faith in the possibility of the salvation of the Negro, but there were among the colonists thousands who had never considered the Negro as belonging to the pale of Christianity. Negroes had been generally designated as infidels; but, in the estimation of their self-styled superiors, they were not considered the most desirable of this class supposedly arrayed against Christianity. There were few Christians who did not look forward to the ultimate conversion of those infidels approaching the Caucasian type, but hardly any desired to make an effort in the direction of proselyting Negroes.