A Volunteer Finds the Holy Grail of Abolitionist-Era Baptist Documents in Massachusetts

A handwritten anti-slavery declaration from 1847, signed by 116 New England Baptist ministers, was recently discovered in the American Baptist archive in Groton, Massachusetts. Volunteer Jennifer Cromack found the pristine 5-foot-long scroll titled "A Resolution and Protest Against Slavery" that had been considered lost for decades, with the last known copy appearing in a 1902 history book. This significant historical document emerged two years after southern Baptists split from northern Baptists over slavery issues, and fourteen years before the Civil War began.