Father and son freedmen became leaders in NWLA during Reconstruction era

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS)—A boy born into slavery in South Carolina was separated from his family at age five and later reunited with his father in Northwest Louisiana. After the Civil War, the father-son pair became a powerful force in creating and organizing Baptist Churches in Northwest Louisiana.

Here is a little of their story.

Carolina “Caroliner” Fuller was born into slavery in South Carolina and was baptized into the Missionary Baptist Church. Caroliner married Patsy Fuller, and the couple’s son, Jackson J. Fuller, was also born into slavery in 1852 in South Carolina.

In 1857, when he was only five years old, little Jackson was sold away from his parents and transplanted to Louisiana. Local legend says that Jackson was purchased by an abolitionist and brought to Northwest Louisiana, where he was emancipated, but at the time of this article’s publication solid sources have not backed up the claim about an abolitionist’s involvement.

Caroliner, Jackson’s father, later moved from South Carolina to Louisiana. It is not certain how Caroliner gained his freedom, but Caroliner became widely known in NWLA for the power of his preaching. He was ordained by a white Baptist preacher known as Bishop Scott.

Caroliner became the pastor at Mary Evergreen Baptist Church and Zion Hill Baptist Church in Grand Cane. He eventually took to the pulpit at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Kingston, Louisiana.

The story of how Caroliner and his son Jackson were reunited in Louisiana is uncertain. But the father and son are clearly connected in the history of Northwest Louisiana Baptists.

We do know that in 1867, just after the end of the Civil War, Jackson was told by a freedwoman that if he got his hands on a book she would teach him how to read. Mrs. Lizzie Brooks then taught Jackson to read his letters and noticed that Jackson wanted to learn more.

Jackson walked four miles each way to attend a night school and Sunday School, where William Brown and M. V. B. Brown taught him. In the night school, Jackson learned lessons from Noah Webster’s Elementary Spelling Book. The book, first printed in 1783, was used by many African Americans who wanted to learn how to read after the Civil War.

You can buy a copy of Noah Webster’s Elementary Spelling Book here.

Jackson practiced his reading by the light of tallow and pine-not candles.

Northwest Association No. 2 was organized in 1873 by Bishops Carolina Fuller, Rial Wickwire, Thomas B. Smith, Henry Jackson, Joseph Satterwhite, S. Presley, and Henry Farris. It was one of the first Baptist associations for African Americans in Northwest Louisiana.

In 1882, Jackson converted to Christianity and was baptized at his father’s church, Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, in Kingston. He soon felt the call to preach, and his church voted that he should become a pastor. When Jackson’s father Caroliner died on Aug. 26, 1886, soon after the church’s vote, the members of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church elected Jackson to succeed his father in the pulpit.

Jackson was ordained on June 1, 1887, by C. S. Shelton, Charley Boykin, S. S. Fuller, and Nathaniel Oliver. Twenty years later, he was a Baptist Bishop and still pastoring Mt. Moriah.

Jackson married Harriet Johnson, and together, they bought over 800 acres and raised ten boys and four girls in Northwest Louisiana.

Jackson carried on his father’s legacy and became the Moderator of the Northwest Association No. 2 in Louisiana. When Carolina Fuller and others created the Northwest Association No. 2, there were only a few churches in the association. But by 1914, there were 56 churches and more than 4,000 members.

Jackson helped Professor J. H. Whaley bring education to the association’s school, which became one of the best District Schools in Louisiana. During his ministry, Jackson baptized hundreds of people and united couples in marriage.

Caroliner and Jackson Fuller are considered one of Northwest Louisiana’s pioneer Baptists.

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Sources:

History of Louisiana Negro Baptists from 1804 to 1914, by William Hicks, published by the National Baptist Publishing Board in Nashville, Tennessee, 1915.