Baptists

====Caribbean islands====
{{blockquote| A healthy Church kills error, and tears evil in pieces! Not so very long ago our nation tolerated slavery in our colonies. Philanthropists endeavored to destroy slavery, but when was it utterly abolished? It was when [[William Wilberforce|Wilberforce]] roused the Church of God, and when the Church of God addressed herself to the conflict—then she tore the evil thing to pieces! – [[Charles Spurgeon|C.H. Spurgeon]] an outspoken British Baptist opponent of slavery in 'The Best War Cry' (1883)<ref name="CHS">{{cite web| last =Spurgeon |first= Charles | url= http://www.newsforchristians.com/spurgeon/chs1709.html| title= The Best War Cry | date= 4 March 1883 | access-date= 26 December 2014}}</ref>}}

Elsewhere in the Americas, in the Caribbean in particular, Baptist missionaries and members took an active role in the anti-slavery movement. In Jamaica, for example, [[William Knibb]], a prominent British Baptist missionary, worked toward the emancipation of slaves in the [[British West Indies]] (which took place in full in 1838). Knibb supported the creation of "[[Free Villages]]" and sought funding from English Baptists to buy land for freedmen to cultivate; the Free Villages were envisioned as rural communities to be centered around a Baptist church where emancipated slaves could farm their own land. [[Thomas Burchell]], missionary minister in [[Montego Bay]], was active in this movement, gaining funds from Baptists in England to buy land for what became known as Burchell Free Village.

Prior to emancipation, Baptist deacon [[Samuel Sharpe]], who served with Burchell, organized a general strike of slaves seeking better conditions. It developed into a major rebellion of as many as 60,000 slaves, which became known as the Christmas Rebellion or the [[Baptist War]]. It was put down by government troops within two weeks. During and after the rebellion, an estimated 200 slaves were killed outright, with more than 300 judicially executed later by prosecution in the courts, sometimes for minor offenses.

Baptists were active after emancipation in promoting the education of former slaves; for example, Jamaica's [[Calabar High School]], named after the port of [[Calabar]] in Nigeria, was founded by Baptist missionaries. At the same time, during and after slavery, slaves and free Blacks formed their own [[Spiritual Baptist]] movements—breakaway spiritual movements which theology often expressed resistance to oppression.<ref>{{citation|first=Jean|last=Besson|title=Martha Brae's Two Histories | place= Chapel Hill | publisher = University of North Carolina |year=2002}}</ref>