In the earliest decades of the Baptist Church in the American Southeast, it was stimulated by preachers from New England who generated the Great Awakening.

With growth through the end of the American Revolutionary War, in 1781 the association of churches split into two parts: along state lines for Virginia and North Carolina.

[3] The history of First Baptist Church started with scattered black members in Prince George County, Virginia worshipping as New Lights in 1756 after the Great Awakening.

In the early years, such preachers strongly supported an anti-slavery message, based on the equality of men made in God's image.

Calling themselves the First African Baptist Church, they met in Lunenburg in a building on the plantation of Colonel William Byrd III.

[1] Emphasizing education, the First Baptist congregation also created one of the earliest local schools for black children in the nation.

In the wake of Nat Turner's Rebellion in 1831, however, planters became so alarmed about the potential for religious messages to cause other revolts that they passed legislation in 1832 requiring that all black churches be led by white pastors.

In 1847 he had published a memoir of his trials and journey, The Life and Sufferings of Leonard Black, a Fugitive from Slavery, classified as a slave narrative.

The First Baptist congregation continued to grow after the war as numerous freedmen moved to Petersburg from outlying areas.

[8] Like other major black churches, First Baptist long played a role in training new leaders in education, politics and business.

Its congregation was active in the Civil Rights Movement, and the church was a place of mass meetings for demonstrations, support and voter registration.