Caesar Blackwell

In 1821, "by experience and baptism", he joined the Antioch Baptist Church, which had been founded three years before by James McLemore, a preacher who had come from Georgia.

318–19): "After Blackwell's owner died, the Alabama Baptist Association bought and freed the slave to preach to his people".

[3] Flynt's account is cited by others, including Gary Burton (pastor of Pintlala Baptist Church, Hope Hull, Alabama).

[2] James Benson Sellers, Slavery in Alabama (1994), offers another, slightly different account which states that Blackwell was enslaved by McLemore, and was either bought or freed by the ABA after McLemore's death:Another extraordinary Baptist preacher was Caesar Blackwell, a fullblood African slave, a bright, smart, robust fellow.

From a report of his trustees, we find that he preached and performed baptisms at Elam Church, Antioch, Rehoboth, Wetumpka, Mount Gilead, Cubihatchie, and Montgomery.

In 1832, a shift in attitudes among the white population following slave insurrections in various Southern states led to severe restrictions on the educational opportunities and legal status of enslaved people.

After 1835, he was allowed only to keep his expenses, and his preaching activities were curtailed;[3] Gary Burton cites Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831) and the United States v. The Amistad case (1841) as events that caused limits to be placed on Blackwell's freedom of movement.