This first-of-its-kind biography tells the story of Rev. James
Page, who rose from slavery in the nineteenth century to become a
religious and political leader among African Americans as well as
an international spokesperson for the cause of racial equality.
Winner of the Rembert Patrick Award by The Florida Historical
Society, Florida Non-Fiction Book Award by the Florida Book Awards,
Harry T. and Harrietter V. Moore Award by the Florida Historical
Society James Page spent the majority of his life enslaved-during
which time he experienced the death of his free father, witnessed
his mother and brother being sold on the auction block, and was
forcibly moved 700 miles south from Richmond, VA, to Tallahassee,
FL, by his enslaver, John Parkhill. Page would go on to become
Parkhill's chief aide on his plantation and, unusually, a religious
leader who was widely respected by enslaved men and women as well
as by white clergy, educators, and politicians. Rare for enslaved
people at the time, Page was literate-and left behind ten letters
that focused on his philosophy as an enslaved preacher and, later,
as a free minister, educator, politician, and social justice
advocate. In Father James Page, Larry Eugene Rivers presents Page
as a complex, conflicted man: neither a nonthreatening,
accommodationist mouthpiece for white supremacy nor a calculating
schemer fomenting rebellion. Rivers emphasizes Page's agency in
pursuing a religious vocation, in seeking to exhibit "manliness" in
the face of chattel slavery, and in pushing back against the
overwhelming power of his enslaver. Post-emancipation, Page
continued to preach and to advocate for black self-determination
and independence through black land ownership, political
participation, and business ownership. The church he founded-Bethel
Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee-would go on to be a major
political force not only during Reconstruction but through today.
Based upon numerous archival sources and personal papers, as well
as an in-depth interview of James Page and a reflection on his life
by a contemporary, this deeply researched book brings to light a
fascinating life filled with contradictions concerning gender,
education, and the social interaction between the races. Rivers'
biography of Page is an important addition, and corrective, to our
understanding of black spirituality and religion, political
organizing, and civic engagement.
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