The Black Baptist Experience in Canada

by Gordon L. Heath (Editor), Dudley A. Brown (Editor), George Elliott Clarke (Foreword by)

Overview

This groundbreaking book is a history of the Black Baptist experience in Canada. It includes diverse and informative chapters on events, themes, and organizations such as the underground railway, gender, architecture, literature, civil rights, empire, and associations. It also focuses on several key early churches from the West Coast to the East Coast, along with important personages such as Washington Christian, Jennie Johnson, David George, William White, William Troy, and William M. Mitchell.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781666704358
Publisher:	Pickwick Publications
Publication date:	04/08/2025
Series:	McMaster General Studies Series , #19
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	338
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Gordon L. Heath is professor of Christian history as well as centenary chair in world Christianity at McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, Ontario. His publications include Christians, the State, and War: An Ancient Tradition for the Modern World (2022) and The British Nation Is Our Nation: The BACSANZ Baptist Press and the South African War, 1899–1902 (2017).



Dudley A. Brown is a McMaster Divinity College graduate and served as principal in the Waterloo Region District School Board for many years.

Gordon L. Heath is Associate Professor of Christian History at McMaster Divinity College, and serves as Director of the Canadian Baptist Archives. He is the author of A War with a Silver Lining: Canadian Protestant Churches and the South African War, 1899-1902 (2009), Doing Church History (2008), and co-author with Stanley E. Porter of The Lost Gospel of Judas: Separating Fact from Fiction (2007).

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“In a dozen essays on the Black Baptist experience in colonial and Victorian Canada that run the gamut from architecture to print culture, this groundbreaking study fills a significant lacuna in Canadian Baptist history. Highly recommended!”

—Michael A. G. Azad Haykin, professor of church history and biblical spirituality, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary



“Black folk have played a significant part in the Baptist life of Canada. Some arrived in the Maritimes as Loyalist refugees from the new United States. More reached Ontario by the ‘Underground Railroad’ for escaped slaves in the 1850s and 1860s. A few settled in Victoria, British Columbia, by the 1870s. Their robust faith and their protracted struggles are vividly illuminated by the essays in this pioneering volume.”

—David Bebbington, emeritus professor of history, University of Stirling



“The Black Baptist Experience in Canada offers a powerful exploration of the significant yet often overlooked role Black Baptists played in shaping Canada’s religious, social, and cultural landscape. Through in-depth analysis and exhaustive research, it uncovers Black Baptists’ resilience, faith, and activism from the early days of enslavement to the formation of independent congregations. There is no other full-length work on this subject in existence. Thus, it is essential for a broad range of readers.”

—Wayne E. Croft Sr., Jeremiah A. Wright Sr. Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics in African American Studies, United Lutheran Seminary



“This volume is both readable and scholarly, with wide-ranging analysis of an important topic that has too often been overlooked. It helps provide a more complete picture of Black history, Canadian history, Baptist history, and beyond. Highly recommended.”

—Melody Maxwell, associate professor of Christian history, Acadia Divinity College

Editorial Reviews

In a dozen essays on the Black Baptist experience in colonial and Victorian Canada that run the gamut from architecture to print culture, this groundbreaking study fills a significant lacuna in Canadian Baptist history. Highly recommended!”

—Michael A. G. Azad Haykin, professor of church history and biblical spirituality, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary



“Black folk have played a significant part in the Baptist life of Canada. Some arrived in the Maritimes as Loyalist refugees from the new United States. More reached Ontario by the ‘Underground Railroad’ for escaped slaves in the 1850s and 1860s. A few settled in Victoria, British Columbia, by the 1870s. Their robust faith and their protracted struggles are vividly illuminated by the essays in this pioneering volume.”

—David Bebbington, emeritus professor of history, University of Stirling



“The Black Baptist Experience in Canada offers a powerful exploration of the significant yet often overlooked role Black Baptists played in shaping Canada’s religious, social, and cultural landscape. Through in-depth analysis and exhaustive research, it uncovers Black Baptists’ resilience, faith, and activism from the early days of enslavement to the formation of independent congregations. There is no other full-length work on this subject in existence. Thus, it is essential for a broad range of readers.”

—Wayne E. Croft Sr., Jeremiah A. Wright Sr. Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics in African American Studies, United Lutheran Seminary



“This volume is both readable and scholarly, with wide-ranging analysis of an important topic that has too often been overlooked. It helps provide a more complete picture of Black history, Canadian history, Baptist history, and beyond. Highly recommended.”

—Melody Maxwell, associate professor of Christian history, Acadia Divinity College

From the Publisher