Check.Church

National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.

Baptist · 1895 · United States

The 1895 Atlanta union of three national Black Baptist conventions — a merger-formed body and, ever since, the largest African-American Christian denomination; the white publication society's 1890 refusal to publish Black ministers' writings, more than anything, drove the founding of its own convention and publishing arm. Cross-link: Mason and Jones were expelled from NBC-affiliated churches (1896–97) for Holiness preaching — the origin of COGIC.

National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. was formed in 1895. National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. continues today. National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.'s institutional line runs back through Southern Baptist Convention, Triennial Convention, Particular Baptists, Congregationalists, Church of England, Roman Catholicism to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. stand 6 divisions along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
In 1895
Family
Baptist
Region
United States
Key figures
E. C. Morris
Cause tags
Governance
Also known as
NBC USA; National Baptist Convention

What it separated from

  • Separated from Southern Baptist Convention. After emancipation, Black Baptists overwhelmingly left white-dominated southern churches to form independent congregations, state conventions, and national bodies.
  • Separated from Triennial Convention.

Bodies organized out of it or separated from it: National Baptist Convention of America, Progressive National Baptist Convention.

On the tree

National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33The church at Pentecost: On divine groundThe church at Pentecost: on divine groundtoday100424431451105415341581163318141845189519151961The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchDepartureChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchDepartureThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchDepartureOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxEastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Orthodox)Eastern OrthodoxyEastern OrthodoxRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismNot gatheredChurch of England (Anglican)Church of EnglandAnglicanCongregationalists (Congregational)CongregationalistsCongregationalParticular Baptists (Baptist)Particular BaptistsBaptistTriennial Convention (Baptist)Triennial ConventionBaptistSouthern Baptist Convention (Baptist)Southern BaptistConventionNot gatheredNational Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. (Baptist)National BaptistConvention, USA, Inc.BaptistNational Baptist Convention of America (Baptist)National BaptistConvention of AmericaBaptistProgressive National Baptist Convention (Baptist)Progressive NationalBaptist ConventionBaptist

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.

Adherents

About 7,500,000 adherents (self-reported claim, date not stated by the source).

A figure the body itself has stated, often years old, with no census apparatus behind it.

Source: Encyclopedia.com ('over 7.5 million')

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31.