Founded in 1968 as the Black American Baptist Churchmen, the American Baptist Black Caucus (ABBC) is an organization of black congregations within the American Baptist Churches, U.S.A. Adopting its current name in 1981, the ABBC seeks to reform the American Baptist Churches to bridge the gap between white and minority members. Its many projects include developing denominational support for scholarship aid for disadvantaged students, increasing resources for business and religious projects in the inner cities, encouraging black appointments to denominational posts, raising support for black colleges and universities, and establishing open hiring policies on local, state, and national levels. The ABBC also operates a placement service for pastors seeking positions and churches seeking pastors.
The caucus is one of several black church organizations formed by African Americans during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Denominational advocacy groups like the ABBC followed the example of the National Committee of Negro Churchmen (now the National Conference of Black Churchmen), which attempted to implement some of the demands for racial justice promulgated by the proponents of black power. Many black church groups, for example, proposed black economic empowerment programs. Moreover, they sought to increase the awareness of white church members concerning African American congregations and black representation in the church hierarchy.
African Americans had been members of the Baptist church since its emergence in the United States. In the antebellum era, white Baptists in the North took an interest in the conversion and education of slaves and freedmen and often permitted African Americans to join their churches. Soon, however, African Americans began to form their own congregations within the existing Baptist structure. Eventually, these black churches formed separate associations as well as conducted separate state and regional conventions. Initially, white Baptists in the North cooperated with them; however, beginning in 1830 cooperative activities declined due to the conflict over slavery.
In the postbellum era, many northern Baptists renewed their commitment to African Americans in the South and, with the cooperation of black Baptist groups, opened several schools for freedmen. While African American Baptist groups united to form the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A. in 1895, the Northern Baptists (which became the American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A.) continued to house both white and black congregations.
By the middle of the twentieth century the American Baptists began to experience a significant decline in white and a rise in black membership. At that time, many black churches in other Baptist denominations began to affiliate with the American Baptists because their own organizations provided little or no retirement benefits for their clergy. Although the number and proportion of African American members were rapidly increasing among the American Baptists, black representation at the higher administrative levels and on denominational boards did not reflect this growth. Concern about this lack of black representation in the church hierarchy led to the formation of the ABBC, which urged the denomination to pursue a policy of racial inclusivity. By 1970, only two years after its founding, the ABBC scored its first victory when the American Baptists elected Thomas Kilgore Jr. as its first black president. Since Kilgore’s election, several other African Americans have succeeded him. Currently, the American Baptist Church has a representative number of blacks in top leadership positions.
Today, the ABBC represents 480,000 black members of the American Baptist Church, constituting roughly 30 percent of the total denominational membership. The ABBC, headquartered in the office of the annually elected incumbent president, publishes the semiannual Black Caucus Newsletter and the monthly periodical ABC TAB.
FURTHER READINGS
Fitts, Leroy. A History of Black Baptists. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1985.
Lincoln, C.Eric, and Lawrence H.Mamiya, eds. The Black Church in the African-American Experience. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1990.
Washington, James M. Frustrated Fellowship: The Black Baptist Quest for Social Power. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1986.
Kurt W.Peterson
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