“ In 1830, just after sunset on Daufusky Island, South Carolina, a slender black soul would light a fire outside the door of the weathered clapboard ‘Praise House.’
They came quietly to this only gathering place they knew, to sit on the backless half-log benches outside and inside along the wall. At first there was silence…then one person, probably a woman, began softly to hum a well known tune that had it’s origin in Africa and would eventually become the basis of a well known spiritual, that would express their primitive religious faith. As others joined in, and the music escalated, hands clapped and feet began to stomp.
This setting was the forerunner of the First Union African Baptist Church on Daufusky Island, South Carolina.”
LaCount Anderson 