“Enslaved people began to flee harsh conditions in Virginia and South Carolina to Spanish Florida [in the 1680s]. If an enslaved person made it there and professed his belief that Roman Catholicism was "the True Faith," the Spanish colonists would set him free. As a result, the first Black town, St. Augustine, was founded by freedmen and -women in 1687.” ReligionFaithFreedomSlaveryCatholicismFloridaAfrican AmericansBlacksSt AugustineRoman Catholicism Book:Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 Source: Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019