Document discovered in Massachusetts shows Baptist ministers took early stand against slavery
"They wanted to go on record as saying that they were against slavery," says Rev. Diane Badger, the administrator of the American Baptist Church of Massachusetts. "They thought that slavery was an abomination, so they came up with this declaration and protest against slavery."
Document written before Civil War
The document was written 14 years before the start of the Civil War and 16 years before the Emancipation Proclamation. Badger says the ministers carefully considered what they were doing. "They had sent out to the association a question... would you be able to support someone as a Missionary who was also a slaveholder," Badger says. "And the answer came back overwhelming, 'no, we could not.'"
The church held on to the document but did not carefully track its location. It was packed and moved with the church's archival material. In the 20th century alone, the room full of papers shifted from Boston to Newton to Groton.
When Badger launched a search for the document, she started far from home. Spots in Atlanta, Providence, Boston and Cambridge were all checked, but the document was not there. It was ultimately found by accident.
"It was one of these serendipitous moments," Badger told WBZ-TV. "One of the women that was working in the archives helping move things around while they were building some more shelves opened the box." The scroll was sitting right on top of the box.
The church has held some public viewings of the scroll. The plan now is to restore it and make a reproduction which can be put on permanent display. The original will be stored in a more secure place.
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