Dreammaker

A novel on the life of R.H. Boyd, from slave, to minister, publisher, banker, and philanthropist. Here is a story that resonates with the power of family and love and the determination of one man who makes a dream come true. Born into bondage in 1843 in Mississippi, Dick Gray, later changing his name to R.H. Boyd, is sold to another slave-owner, separated from his family and taken by his master to the Civil War battlefield. He flees to Mexico, where he becomes a man, finding new love and losing it again in the process, only to return as overseer to the plantation where once he was a slave. He rediscovers love in his childhood sweetheart. Then, tragedy strikes, sending him into despair. Reunited with his family, he embraces Christianity for solace to deal with his loss, is baptized, and decides to go into the ministry to find meaning in the new world that he now faces without the woman he loves. He becomes a rancher, cowboy, negotiator, and businessman; and finds, once again, a woman who becomes his soul mate. Finally, he creates the National Baptist Publishing Board in 1896 today known as the R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation.