C.C. Adams correspondence, 1954-1962

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Summary

Creator:
John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture and Adams, C.C., 1884-1976
Abstract:
Dr. C.C. Adams (1884-1976) was a Black minister and active member of the National Baptist Convention, serving as secretary of the Convention's Foreign Mission Board from 1941 into the 1960s. Collection consists of correspondence and accompanying items Adams received as secretary of the Foreign Mission Board, mostly from members of the Pilgrim Baptist Mission in Issele-Uku, Nigeria. This correspondence documents the Foreign Mission Board's support of Pilgrim Baptist Mission's financial requests, expenditures, and growth. Acquired as part of the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture.
Extent:
0.25 Linear Feet
Language:
Materials in English.
Collection ID:
RL.13007

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of correspondence and accompanying items Adams received as secretary of the National Baptist Convention's Foreign Mission Board. The correspondence is mostly from members of the Pilgrim Baptist Mission in Issele-Uku, Nigeria, especially from the Mission's founder and president, Reverend S.W. Martin. This correspondence documents the Foreign Mission Board's support of Pilgrim Baptist Mission's financial requests and expenditures, as well as its growth--particularly its construction of buildings such as maternity wards, dormitories, and a teachers' training college. Also documented is the Foreign Mission Board's financial support of Nigerian students pursuing higher education in America. An incident in which Robert Ugbolue was accused of impregnating a young woman at the Mission is also referenced in several letters from Martin and Ugbolue. Correspondence from people outside of Pilgrim Baptist Mission contains requests of support from other African Christians in places such as Sierra Leone, Ghana, and other villages in Nigeria. Letters from Julia and Thomas Livingston, two missionaries in Colombia, give updates on Thomas Livingston's health.

Biographical / historical:

Dr. Connie Cornelius "C.C." Adams (1884-1976) was a Black minister and active member of the National Baptist Convention, serving as secretary of the Convention's Foreign Mission Board from 1941 into the 1960s. Adams graduated from Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., receiving a bachelor's degree in theology and a Doctorate of Divinity. He married Semonia Bolton in 1914, and they had two daughters: Ethel and Hattie. After the death of his first wife, Adams married Ethel McPhail in 1924. He passed away on April 16, 1976 in Philadelphia.

Reverend S.W. Martin (1879-1976) was an African minister who founded the Pilgrim Baptist Mission in Nigeria. Born in Issele-Uku, Nigeria, Martin received his theological training at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, I.L. He had traveled to America with Reverend A.E. Martin, whom he met in Nigeria and whose surname he adopted. S.W. Martin returned to Issele-Uku in 1922, where he founded and served as president of the Pilgrim Baptist Mission for several decades. The Mission included churches, schools, dormitories, a training college for teachers, and other buildings. Its primary purpose was to spread Baptism through worship and education.

The National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. is a primarily Black organization for Baptist Christians in America. It was founded in 1886 and is headquartered at the Baptist World Center in Nashville, T.N. The Foreign Mission Board is the arm of the National Baptist Convention that provides financial support to Baptist missions in Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Sources:

C.C. Adams and Marshall A. Talley, Negro Baptists and Foreign Missions (Philadelphia: Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention, 1966), accessed via HathiTrust 2023 June 09.

C.C. Adams obituary, Philadelphia Inquirer , April 21, 1976, page 31; C.C. Adams and Ethel McPhail engagement announcement, Pittsburgh Courier , March 8, 1924, page 4 accessed via Newspapers.com 2023 June 09.

1920, 1930, and 1950 U.S. Federal Census records; U.S. World War II draft registration cards; Find a Grave index, accessed via Ancestry.com 2023 June 09.

Kemdirim O. Protus, "Martin, Olisemeke Samuel Wadei," Dictionary of African Christian Biography website, accessed 2023 June 09.

The National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. website, accessed 2023 June 09.

Acquisition information:
The C.C. Adams correspondence was received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a purchase from Caroliniana Rare Books in 2023.
Processing information:

Processed by Leah Tams, June 2023

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2023-0090

Arrangement:

Material is arranged alphabetically, beginning with correspondents from Pilgrim Baptist Mission and followed by other correspondents not affiliated with the Mission. Other material appears at the end.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], C.C. Adams correspondence, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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