The First Colored Baptist Church in North America: Savannah, GA

Rev. James M. Simms’s The First Colored Baptist Church in North America: Savannah, GA offers a deeply moving and historically vital account of faith, perseverance, and community among African Americans in the post-slavery South.

Written by a minister and former enslaved man, this work traces the founding, growth, and trials of the First African Baptist Church of Savannah—an institution born in bondage yet destined to become a beacon of freedom and spiritual resilience. Simms recounts the church’s early days under oppression, its secret gatherings during slavery, and its emergence as a cornerstone of education, worship, and leadership in Reconstruction-era Georgia.

Through sermons, testimonies, and historical reflection, The First Colored Baptist Church in North America preserves the voice of a people who built faith amid persecution and forged identity through devotion. More than a church history, it is a spiritual chronicle of endurance, liberation, and divine purpose.

Complete and unabridged edition of Rev. James M. Simms’s 1888 historical account

Authentic record of African American faith, leadership, and community in the 18th and 19th centuries

A foundational text in the study of Black church history, Reconstruction, and religious freedom

Essential reading for students of African American heritage, theology, and Southern history