{"id":21554,"date":"2025-07-04T16:28:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T22:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-volunteer-finds-the-holy-grail-of-abolitionist-era-baptist-documents-in-massachusetts\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T22:28:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T22:28:00","slug":"a-volunteer-finds-the-holy-grail-of-abolitionist-era-baptist-documents-in-massachusetts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-volunteer-finds-the-holy-grail-of-abolitionist-era-baptist-documents-in-massachusetts\/","title":{"rendered":"A volunteer finds the Holy Grail of abolitionist-era Baptist documents in Massachusetts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Historian
Historian Jennifer Cromack points out the word "Slavery" on a recently found, 178-year-old anti-slavery scroll at Grotonwood, the home mission of The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts, Thursday, June 26, 2025, in Groton, Mass. (AP Photo\/Charles Krupa)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Charles Krupa)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

GROTON, Massachusetts \u2013 Jennifer Cromack was combing through the American Baptist archive when she uncovered a slim box among some 18th and 19th century journals. Opening it, she found a scroll in pristine condition.<\/p>\n

A closer look revealed the 5-foot-long (1.5-meter-long) document was a handwritten declaration titled \u201cA Resolution and Protest Against Slavery,\u201d signed by 116 New England ministers in Boston<\/a> and adopted March 2, 1847. Until its discovery in May at the archives in Groton, Massachusetts, American Baptist officials worried the anti-slavery document<\/a> had been lost forever after fruitless searches at Harvard and Brown universities<\/a> and other locations. A copy was last seen in a 1902 history book.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just amazed and excited,\u201d Cromack, a retired teacher who volunteers at the archive, said. \u201cWe made a find that really says something to the people of the state and the people in the country. \u2026 It speaks of their commitment to keeping people safe and out of situations that they should not be in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The document offers a glimpse into an emerging debate over slavery in the 19th century in the Northeast. The document was signed 14 years before the start of the Civil War as a growing number of religious leaders were starting to speak out against slavery.<\/p>\n

Split over slavery<\/strong><\/div>\n

The document also shines a spotlight on a critical moment in the history of the Baptist church<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was signed two years after the issue of slavery prompted southern Baptists to split from northern Baptists and form the Southern Baptist Convention,<\/a> the nation\u2019s largest Protestant denomination. The split in 1845 followed a ruling by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society prohibiting slave owners from becoming missionaries. The northern Baptists eventually became American Baptist Churches USA.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes from such a critical era in American history, you know, right prior to the Civil War,\u201d said the Rev. Mary Day Hamel, the executive minister of the American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a unique moment in history when Baptists in Massachusetts stepped up and took a strong position and stood for justice in the shaping of this country,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s become part of our heritage to this day, to be people who stand for justice, for American Baptists to embrace diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

A risky declaration<\/strong><\/div>\n

Deborah Bingham Van Broekhoven, the executive director emerita of the American Baptist Historical Society, said many Americans at the time, especially in the North, were \u201cundecided\u201d about slavery and weren’t sure how to respond or were worried about speaking out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey thought it was a southern problem, and they had no business getting involved in what they saw as the states\u2019 rights,\u201d Van Broekhoven said. \u201cMost Baptists, prior to this, would have refrained from this kind of protest. This is a very good example of them going out on a limb and trying to be diplomatic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The document shows ministers had hoped \u201csome reformatory movement\u201d led by those involved in slavery would make their action \u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder these circumstances we can no longer be silent,\u201d the document states. \u201cWe owe something to the oppressed as well as to the oppressor, and justice demands the fulfillment of that obligation. Truth and Humanity and Public Virtue, have claims upon us which we cannot dishonor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The document explains why the ministers \u201cdisapprove and abhor the system of American slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith such a system we can have no sympathy,\u201d the document states. \u201cAfter a careful observation of its character and effects and making every deduction with the largest charity can require, we are constrained to regard it as an outrage upon the rights and happiness of our fellow men, for which there is no valid justification or apology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who signed the document?<\/strong><\/div>\n

The Rev. Diane Badger, the administrator of the American Baptist Church of Massachusetts who oversees the archive, teamed up with the Rev. John Odams of the First Baptist Church in Boston to identify what she called the \u201cHoly Grail\u201d of abolitionist-era Baptist documents. Her great-grandfather was an American Baptist minister.<\/p>\n

Since its discovery, Badger has put all the ministers’ names on a spreadsheet along with the names of the churches where they served. Among them was Nathaniel Colver, of Tremont Temple in Boston, one of the first integrated churches in the country, now known as Tremont Temple Baptist Church. Another was Baron Stow, who belonged to the state’s anti-slavery society.<\/p>\n

Badger also is working to estimate the value of the document, which is intact with no stains or damage, and is making plans to ensure it is protected. A digital copy could eventually be shared with some of Massachusetts’ 230 American Baptist churches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been kind of an interesting journey and it\u2019s one that\u2019s still unfolding,\u201d Badger said. \u201cThe questions that always come to me, OK, I know who signed it but who didn\u2019t? I can go through my list, through my database and find who was working where on that and why didn\u2019t they sign that. So it\u2019s been very interesting to do the research.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rev. Kenneth Young \u2013 whose predominantly Black Calvary Baptist Church in Haverhill, Massachusetts, was created by freed Blacks in 1871 \u2013 called the discovery inspiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was awesome that we had over hundred signers to this, that they would project that freedom for our people is just,\u201d Young said. \u201cIt follows through on the line of the abolitionist movement and fighting for those who may not have had the strength to fight for themselves against a system of racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Historian
Historian Jennifer Cromack holds a recently found, 178-year-old anti-slavery scroll at Grotonwood, the home mission of The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts, Thursday, June 26, 2025, in Groton. (AP Photo\/Charles Krupa)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Charles Krupa)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Historian
Historian Jennifer Cromack, left, and Rev. Diane Badger unfurl a recently found, 178-year-old anti-slavery scroll which was found in a storage box at Grotonwood, the home mission of The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts, Thursday, June 26, 2025, in Groton, Massachusetts (AP Photo\/Charles Krupa)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Charles Krupa)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rev.
Rev. Diane Badger unfurls a recently found, 178-year-old anti-slavery scroll at Grotonwood, the home mission of The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts, Thursday, June 26, 2025, in Groton, Massachusetts (AP Photo\/Charles Krupa)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Charles Krupa)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Historian Jennifer Cromack points out the word "Slavery" on a recently found, 178-year-old anti-slavery scroll at Grotonwood, the home mission of The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts, Thursday, June 26, 2025, in Groton, Mass. (AP Photo\/Charles Krupa)(AP Photo\/Charles Krupa) GROTON, Massachusetts \u2013 Jennifer Cromack was combing through the American Baptist archive when she uncovered a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-21554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21554"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=21554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}