Bethel Baptist was interracial until after the American Civil War and emancipation. Whites decided to segregate the congregation by race. At this time members were already facing a split over which pastor to follow, and white congregants tried to force the blacks, now freedmen, out of the church. They took their case to court, but the court ruled in favor of the freedmen, who were the majority of the congregation, and ruled that they were the rightful owners of the Bethel Baptist name and property. In this period across the South, many black Baptists were withdrawing from white-dominated churches to set up their own outside white control. They soon also established regional association and eventually a national organization.