Noah Davis

Born in Virginia in March 1804, Noah Davis was enslaved as a child and learned trades including farming and shoemaking. He joined the Baptist church in Fredericksburg in the early 1830s, became a preacher, and eventually worked to secure freedom for himself and his family.

After gaining his freedom, he settled in Baltimore, where he founded the Second Colored Baptist Church and became known as a powerful minister and speaker. He traveled in the North giving lectures and raising support, building a reputation as a religious leader and advocate for Black families seeking freedom.

Davis is remembered especially for A Narrative of the Life of Rev. Noah Davis, a Colored Man (1859), a memoir written to raise money to purchase the freedom of his wife and children. The book remains valuable as both a personal story and a vivid record of slavery, faith, and determination before the Civil War.