“Perseverance: A Conversation Between Father and Daughter” evolved from a challenge by the Rev. Karen Coleman to document her father’s, Dr. Oliver Coleman, life experiences. Karen Coleman is a great-great granddaughter of of Byrd Patterson, a man of mixed ethnic parentage born into slavery.
“Perseverance” examines the details that shaped the lives of both him and his daughter.
The story begins in 1840 and shows how Oliver Coleman was able to survive the Great Depression to become a college graduate, high school principal and college administrator.
His daughter, Karen, became one of the first black female Episcopalian priests in an all-white congregation.
Oliver Coleman, of Detroit, Mich., will be at Salisbury’s Holiday Inn for the Byrd Patterson reunion Aug. 10-12 and will sign copies of and sell his book on Friday. The cost is $24.95 plus 6 percent sales tax or $26.45.