Father James Page: An Enslaved Preacher's Climb to Freedom

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Early Life in Virginia 2. Forced Migration to the Florida Frontier 3. A New Environment and Responsibilities as an Overseer 4. Challenges, Calamities, and the Ministry 5. Forging Family Ties 6. Intensifying Pastoral Duties and Leadership Responsibilities 7. Stepping toward Civil War 8. The Civil War Years 9. Emancipation and Congressional Reconstruction 10. Radical Reconstruction and Its Aftermath Epilogue Notes Index

About the Author :
Larry Eugene Rivers is a Distinguished Professor of History at Florida A&M University and the author or coauthor of eight books, including Slavery in Florida: Territorial Days to Emancipation and Rebels and Runaways: Slave Resistance in Nineteenth Century Florida.

Review :
Dr. Rivers has written a very brave book, because it refuses to accept stereotypes no matter their origin. —The Tallahassee Democrat This is a remarkable book, deeply researched, gracefully written, and revealing many astonishing facts about the trials of a slave and how he coped with racial attitudes and prejudices. —Loren Schweninger, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Canadian Journal of History Because the past informs the present, Rivers illuminates the path of Father James Page's climb to freedom as a framework for measuring our own lives and the progress of Florida and America toward achieving racial justice and equality.  —Valerie Scoon, Florida State University, Capital Outlook deeply researched and inspiring book...Rivers does an excellent job of analyzing and describing the very complicated and sometimes contradictory behavior of Father James Page. —Said Sewell, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education As the first scholarly, full-length biography of any 19th century enslaved preacher from slavery to freedom Rivers' impeccably written biography is an impressive undertaking that required years of archival digging and a careful examination of the limited primary sources available[it] models the practice of vivifying overlooked historical figures. —Mélena Laudig, Princeton University, Reading Religion [Rivers] rightly argues that the emphasis on slaveholders' paternalism in studies of bondpeople often over-determines how scholars narrate the activities of the enslaved. Instead, he invites scholars to ask questions about Black agency—specifically how enslaved preachers like Page reasoned and made choices that ultimately shaped Black, southern, and American religious cultures. —Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh , Standford University, Journal of Southern History