1595 Baptismal Record for Estebana

1595 Baptismal Record for Estebana

What appears to be a sheet of paper with gnarled corners aged with time turns out to be a document one curator says can rewrite history. The sheet in question records the earliest known black baptism, which was in St. Augustine, Fla. on Jan. 5, 1595. The person baptized was Estebana, daughter of a slave named Gratia. She was the first slave on record in the New World to be baptized. Father Francisco de Marron in St. Augustine Catholic Diocese, Fla., baptized Estebana.