In 2001, a new historical marker was erected in Silver Bluff, SC. The reading on the marker read as follows: "this church, one of the first black Baptist churches in America, grew out of regular worship services held as early as 1750" (Silver Bluff Baptist Church Dedicates Marker). The worship services were held at Silver Bluff, the plantation of Indian trader George Galphin, originally a racially diverse, non-denominational congregation, but organized as Silver Bluff Baptist Church in 1773, with Reverend Walter Palmer as its first pastor(Silver Bluff Baptist Church Dedicates Marker). This is an impressive piece of information, but just as impressive is the history of how the first independent African churches developed in America. .

             African Initiated Churches.

             Research of this topic revealed the abbreviation "AIC", which depending upon the source, is defined as standing for African Independent Churches, African Indigenous Churches, African Initiated Churches, or African Instituted Churches. Whatever the abbreviation indicates, what it describes are Christian worship groups that were established in America (African Initiated Churches). The AICs were founded on the sheer determination of the Africans who came to America voluntarily or were brought here as the result of slavery. What the AICS offered these people was the opportunity to gather together and express their religious beliefs in a congregational setting, culminating in the previously discussed Silver Bluff Baptist Church, which became a tangible sign of the advancement of independent African churches in the New World. It was a source of pride for the parishioners, and gave them an identity in a time when Africans were struggling for freedom and recognition. Although slavery would not be abolished in America for nearly 100 years after Silver Bluff's foundation, the church gave freedom beyond the limits of this world.