Reverend
John DuBois was a 19th century Alabama inventor, writer, Methodist
minister, planter. And a slave owner.
He also
was my great-great-grandfather.
In researching
his background, I discovered a scrapbook of his writings in the vault of a Methodist
seminary. There, to my surprise, was not
only a series of newspaper articles appearing in the Alabama Christian Advocate
written by him outlining the history of Alabama Methodism, but there were many details of his long and quite
fascinating life.
In 1999, I published a collection of these writings entitled “Necessary
Fried Chicken.” I knew that his life
needed further recognition in some way.
Daunted by writing about this giant of a man, I decided
instead to write about his wife. That
book, “Louisa,” became the first of a trilogy. The second is this book. The final book of the trilogy is “And the
Greatest of These.”
In many of the chapters of “The Book of John,” I begin with a
quote from John’s writings, usually his newspaper articles on Methodism. All
quotes from John are italicized and accredited.
What then follows the quotes are “journal entries” and “letters”
written by John as I imagined, using his writings to guide me as to what he
might have thought. Although based upon
his life, the journal entries and letters, and the characters, places, and
events depicted are fiction.
