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

More than one million people from all walks of life have been uplifted and entertained byHeaven 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 Boundis perhaps the longest running black theater production. Here, a lifelong member of Big Bethel with many close ties toHeaven Boundrecounts 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 orGone with the Wind.

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.