With Lott Cary and Colin Teague[2] sailing for Africa in 1821, a new
era of missionary expansion was begun by Negro Baptists. The
distinctive feature of this epoch, which may be termed modern, is the
fact that behind these men was the Richmond African Baptist Missionary
Society, which gave them support, such as it was, and to which
periodic reports were made. True enough, Lott Cary was under
appointment of the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist
Denomination in the United States of America but only that fact and
the sum of $200 in cash and $100 in books appropriated for his use up
to 1826[3] could not be sufficient evidence to claim him wholly as a
missionary of the General Missionary Convention although he did
receive some advisory instructions from its board.[4] Indeed, Lott
Cary was the first American Baptist missionary in Africa, the first
representative of a purely Negro missionary organization to labor
beyond the limits of the United States.