h Lott Cary and Colin Teague[2] sailing for Africa in 1821, a new
era of missionary expansion was begun by Negro Baptists. The
distinctive feature of this epoch, which may be termed modern, is the
fact that behind these men was the Richmond African Baptist Missionary
Society, which gave them support, such as it was, and to which
periodic reports were made. True enough, Lott Cary was under
appointment of the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist
Denomination in the United States of America but only that fact and
the sum of $200 in cash and $100 in books appropriated for his use up
to 1826[3] could not be sufficient evidence to claim him wholly as a
missionary of the General Missionary Convention although he did
receive some advisory instructions from its board.[4] Indeed, Lott
Cary was the first American Baptist missionary in Africa, the first
representative of a purely Negro missionary organization to labor
beyond the limits of the United States.

PREPARATION FOR AFRICA

Lott Cary was born on the estate of William A. Christian,[5] in
Charles City County, Virginia,[6] thirty miles from Richmond,[7] about
four years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. There
was no exact record kept of the time of his birth, although it appears
to have been about the year 1780.[8]

His mother and father lived together on the great plantation of their
master, centering their attention on Lott, their only child. His
mother gave no public profession of religion although she died giving
evidence that she accepted the Christian faith. His father, however,
was a pious man, a respected member of a Baptist church.[9] As a
result, Lott received some early religious training which may have
influenced his later life.

But there were temptings in his life; there were battles in his soul.
Why should a slave boy hope? Could he ever become free? Why not drink
life to the dregs? The chief among his playmates, he became the
mischief-maker of the place. Profligate, profane, polluter was his
title. Lott Cary tried to reform but he was only able to control
himself a few days. Before long, in 1804,[10] he was hired out by the
year as a common laborer[11] in the Shochoe tobacco warehouse at
Richmond.[12] There he grew more intemperate and profane and showed
little signs of reformation.

It was not reformation that he needed but regeneration as was
evidenced one Lord's day in 1807[13] as he sat in the gallery of the
First Baptist