From Stonewall Jackson
The Black Man’s Friend
By Richard G. Williams Jr.

It is common knowledge that Confederate General “Stonewall” Jackson was a devout Christian. But his founding of a “Colored Sabbath School” and the legacy he left in the African-American community is seldom mentioned.

• Determined that blacks, both slave and free, should be taught to read the Bible, Jackson organized his “Colored Sabbath School” in 1855 and taught the classes himself.

• Jackson became personally involved in many students lives. He prayed for them on a regular basis and they admired, respected and loved him.

• Many joined him on Sunday nights for his family devotions and prayed around the Jackson’s dining room table. Since nighttime gatherings of slaves were unlawful, Jackson gained permission from slave owners and his pastor for these prayer meetings.

• After the battle of First Manassas, the townspeople of Lexington eagerly awaited news. When a letter from Jackson arrived to his pastor, all gathered. It contained a $50 check for the Colored School with an apology for the delay after a fatiguing day’s service.

• At Jackson’s funeral in Lexington, his devoted African-American cook, Jim Lewis, had the honor of leading Little Sorrel. Scores of his Sunday School students mourned. Margaret Junkin Preston wrote, “There were not many more sincere mourners at his grave that these very people, whom he had done so much to teach the way of life.”

• The first donation for the statue of Jackson that stands on his grave came from Lexington’s “negro Baptist Church,” whose pastor had been Jackson’s student.

• The African-American Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Roanoke, Va. today contains a beautiful Jackson Memorial stained glass window. The founding pastor had been a member of Jackson’s class.