David George (Baptist)

David George (c. 1742–1810) was an African-American Baptist preacher and a Black Loyalist from the American South who escaped to British lines in Savannah, Georgia; later he accepted transport to Nova Scotia and land there.

With other enslaved people, George founded the Silver Bluff Baptist Church in South Carolina in 1775, the first black congregation in the present-day United States.

David George was born in Essex County, Virginia, in 1742, to African-American parents John and Judith, enslaved by a man called 'Chapel'.

During the Great Awakening, Baptist preachers had traveled throughout the Southern United States, converting both whites and blacks, free and enslaved.

Brother Palmer was a white Minister who uplifted and spread the word of God to David George and other Black people.

Soon George began to exhort his fellow bondsmen, an activity that led to his becoming, in effect, the pastor of the Silver Bluff Church.

"[7] Three years later, during the American Revolutionary War, the enslaved people escaped to Savannah, where they gained freedom behind British lines, as they had occupied the city.

They transported George, his wife, and three children (Jesse, David, and Ginny) to Shelburne, Nova Scotia for freedom after the defeat of the British during the American War of Independence.

George established a church in Shelburne and became the leader of the Baptist contingent of the African-American Loyalists, and he also attracted whites to his congregation.

Several years later, the George family chose to migrate with other Black Loyalists to Freetown, Sierra Leone, where the British provided some assistance in setting up a new colony and settlement in West Africa.

One of his descendants, also named David George, is a member of Amistad Sankofa, which educates students about international issues and bridges the racial divide.