D. Savage, of Mumford; A. Z. Wilson, N. Jemison, B. Jackson, A. Bibb,
S. Rivers, P. Jordan, C. C. Curry, R. Garrett, A. J. Vincent, A.
O’Neal, A. G. Walker, James Headen, M. H. Cunningham, H. Wood, J.
Chapman, A. A. Battle, S. Burt, R. B. McClellen, J. L. Looney, A.
Bryant, A. Davis, S. Marbry, J. P. Barton, M. C. B. Oden.
This body is led chiefly by men who have attended Talladega College,
some of whom are not only graduates and scholars, but are strong
preachers of the plain old gospel story.
They number about 6,500 members. Talladega and Anniston are their chief
points. Talladega is the “Old Indian battle ground,” and here the white
Baptists formed a church in 1835. Sister Cain, a member of the Mount
Canaan Church, Talladega, said to the writer: “There was no town here
when I came. The Indians lived here and it was all nothing but wild
woods.” As she was talking, the Talladega College bell loudly rang
out some orders or notice upon the ears of Negro students. I mused:
“How the world changes! About the years 1820-1830, negro slavery is
established in Talladega county. In 1835 a white church rises up and,
unknowingly, begins to prepare to give birth to a Negro church, which
will give birth to a Negro Association. In 1865 the slave is free, and
in 1870 the white church constitutes the Mt. Canaan Church (colored),
out of which comes the Rushing Springs Association. And Negro men and
Negro women are carrying diplomas from buildings erected by white
Baptists for the education of white people. All this in less than fifty
years.”