We're Heaven Bound!: Portrait of a Black Sacred Drama [Paperback]

GREGORY D. COLEMAN, an attorney and businessman in Atlanta, Georgia, has been a member of Big Bethel since his childhood. He has been associated with Heaven Bound, as either a performer or its director, for more than thirty years.

More than one million people from all walks of life have been uplifted and entertained by Heaven Bound, the folk drama that follows, through song and verse, the struggles between Satan and a band of pilgrims on their way down the path of glory that leads to the golden gates.

Staged annually and without interruption for more than seventy years at Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Heaven Bound is perhaps the longest running black theater production. Here, a lifelong member of Big Bethel with many close ties to Heaven Bound recounts its lively history and conveys the enduring power and appeal of an Atlanta tradition that is as much a part of the city as Coca-Cola or Gone with the Wind.

An engaging historical narrative . . . The reader is not merely introduced to a play but to a community, to a group that rides the tide of history.

A terrific book . . . A thorough and unendingly interesting story . . . We’re Heaven Bound! lovingly and thoughtfully delineates the sixty-two-year history of the play.

Staged annually and without interruption for more than seventy years at Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Heaven Bound is perhaps the longest running black theater production. Here, a lifelong member of Big Bethel with many close ties to Heaven Bound recounts its lively history.