Julius Lester, Do Lord Remember Me

Do Lord Remember Me

Julius Lester

St. Martin's, Oct 2004, $12.95, 210 pp.

ISBN: 0312285566

He knows he is dying, but no longer fears Death. He writes his obit, but struggles with his memories and his writing hand as the stroke has debilitated him, but he accepts the late evening of his life with death near. Reverend Joshua Smith, Sr., looks back to morning in Jim Crow Mississippi as the seventh child but did his time begin in 1897 or 1900? He thinks back with affection of his afternoon of fifty-six years with his wife Myra and their children as they worshipped the Lord. Civil Rights led him to hope for his people but Joshua drifts from Afternoon to a Night that no longer frightens him. Joshua with the Lord, his family, and a cigar to guide him no longer fears that ugly monster Death. Evening is calling in Nashville and Reverend Joshua Smith Sr. works on his obituary trying to give himself the solace he gave to thousands as the Singing Evangelist for this is the last day of his life.

This reprint of a 1980s classic homage touches readers as Joshua has lived a fuill life, helping Southern Blacks cope with the changes in society while bringing the Lord to the flock. This passionate reverence to Reverend Smith is also a terrific look at the metamorphosis of the Deep South. DO LORD REMEMBER ME is superb biographical "fiction" as readers understand how Julius Lester rightfully lionizes his father Joshua by looking back at his life and impending death; clearly the son pays his deepest regard to his father (and his mother) in a fantastic thank you that will touch the souls of readers.

Harriet Klausner