![]() ![]() To quote Strickland’s Introduction once more: “Boothe promoted literacy so former slaves could read the Bible and break free of the oppressive interpretive practices that made the Christian faith a tool to subjugate blacks during slavery. Literacy alone could not accomplish what needed to be done. But as I said above, for Boothe, that was not enough. ![]() In 1860, literacy among southern blacks was a mere 10%. The impact in black literacy rates due to his and other’s efforts during this time was profound. Thus while basic education was a necessity, Boothe was burdened that mere education was not enough. The latter had a name change to Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and went on to civil rights fame under the pastorate of Martin Luther King, Jr. He was convinced that an educated black community was the best way to contradict the stereotypes with which black Americans were saddled.Įntering the ministry, he both founded and pastored two important churches: “First Colored Baptist Church” in Meridian, Mississippi, and in 1877, “Second Colored Baptist Church” in Montgomery Al. And from that time on, as Walter Strickland writes in the introduction to Boothe’s “Plain Theology”, “Racial uplift was Boothe’s consuming passion.”īoothe’s efforts toward this end were concentrated above all in education. ![]() It seems his social or physical, and his spiritual emancipation coincided. ![]() Coming to faith in Christ in 1865 and baptized in 1866. Born in Alabama, June 13, 1845, he was the “legal property” of one Nathaniel Howard.Ĭharles Octavius Boothe was a man of God. ![]()
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