[2] Independent Black Baptist churches were formed in Petersburg, Virginia and Savannah, Georgia before the American Civil War.

This continued regionalism and other factors caused the decline and eventual demise of the Consolidated American Baptist Convention.

[5] According to historian Wilson Fallin Jr., black preachers interpreted the American Civil War as: God's gift of freedom.

They appreciated opportunities to exercise their independence, to worship in their own way, to affirm their worth and dignity, and to proclaim the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.

This formation was somewhat a result of the demise of the Consolidated American Baptist Convention, as this death created a vacuum in mission work.

In response to this void, William W. Colley of Virginia, who had served as a missionary to Nigeria under the Southern Baptist Convention during the 1870s, called for Black Baptists to meet in Montgomery, Alabama to organize a national convention for extensive foreign missionary work.

The separation was centered on two issues: the location of the foreign mission board and greater cooperation with White Baptists.

Leaders and pastors of the convention became suspicious of the actions of the board when they did not receive the reports they thought were due them, and a debate ensued.

Jackson had supported the Montgomery bus boycott of 1956, but by 1960 told members they should not become involved in civil rights activism.

They supported the extensive activism of King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference and established ecumenical relations with the American Baptist Churches USA.

[31][32] Meeting with President Ronnie Floyd of the SBC, 10 pastors from each convention were assembled to discuss race relations; in 2016, Young revealed several difficulties surrounding racial reconciliation to The New York Times,[32] stating: “I’ve never said this to Dr. Floyd, but I’ve had fellows in my own denomination who called me and said: ‘What are you doing?

Where from my vantage point, that’s reverse racism.” “I do understand the history, and I understand the pain of the past...But what I’m also quite clear about is, if the Gospel does anything at all, the Gospel demands that we not only preach but practice reconciliation.”Floyd, describing 2015 as a "historic year of progress in racial healing," with the SBC and NBC collaborations,[32] succeeds the election of Fred Luter Jr. as the Southern Baptist Convention's first African American president, alongside the adoption of an informal name, "Great Commission Baptists" which gained significant adoption by 2020.

[47] In 1890, the American Baptist Publication Society had refused to publish writings of Black ministers because of resistance from their White Southern clients.

One year after the formation of the convention, the National Baptist Publication Board was established under the leadership of Richard Boyd in Nashville, Tennessee.

His two major accomplishments during his 13 years were paying off the mortgage on the Morris Memorial Building and the purchase of the Bath House for African American use in the resort of Hot Springs, Arkansas.

During these years, African Americans gained passage of federal laws protecting and enforcing their rights to public access and voting, especially in the South.

In a controversial statement, he spoke in favor of the noted African American boxer Mike Tyson, who had been convicted of rape.

[50] The uproar caused by Jemison's remarks translated into a deep decline of membership and associated churches in the convention in 1992.

Legal problems, however, forced Lyons to resign from the presidency after he was convicted of stealing approximately $4 million on homes, jewelry, and a mistress.

Stewart Cleveland Cureton, vice president-at-large, took over the leadership of the convention in 1999 and served the remainder of Lyons' tenure.

In September 2014, Jerry Young of Mississippi was elected president, with some of its members expecting progressive teaching and administration.

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke during the 142nd Annual Session of the National Baptist Convention in Houston, Texas stating, "faith requires action" as she called on African American faith leaders to continue fighting for inalienable rights toward all, remarking the following as Baptists have historically advocated for the separation of church and state:[53]"A constitutional right that hadn't been recognized was taken away from the women of America, and people of America, and on this issue I feel very strongly...one does not have to abandon their faith or their religious beliefs to agree that a woman should be able to make that decision about her own body, and her government should not be making that decision for her...this is this is not about partisanship.

In terms of political ideology, it's just a very practical principle, which is women should have the power to make decisions about their own bodies.

Boise Kimber who was consecrated and installed as the new denominational president; succeeding Young, he began a reformation within the convention by prioritizing the restoration of the denominational headquarters, promoting Christian education, young pastors and other Christian leaders, and women in ministry.

[61] The National Baptist Congress of Christian Education is the training arm of the convention; it is an annual event, held in June that draws more than 50,000 attendees from around the United States and the world.

[63][64] The board was founded in 1915 following disputes between R. H. Boyd and the convention, and is one of the largest African American owned publishing companies.

The autonomous make-up of the NBC USA gives local congregations the latitude to govern themselves and contribute to the causes of other religious bodies as it deems necessary.

"[i] The National Baptist Convention released an official position statement in 2012 that defines marriage as the exclusive union of a man and a woman.

[74] Nevertheless, given the denomination's diversity, some pastors and congregations affiliated with the National Baptist Convention announced their support for same-sex marriage.

[77] The National Baptist Convention is one of the predominantly and historically African American Christian denominations in the United States with at least four colleges and universities affiliated with it solely.