Sun Ra's Reading List

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Boston Bonaparte Napoleon Boyd, Sr

Boston Boyd was the first black Greenville town councilmember. He was born a slave, owned by an Abner BOYD whose wife's name was Mary. He taught himself to read and write with the Bible. He became a large landowner in Greenville. He was the author of 3 books, and he taught Sunday School for 34 years. He accumulated and rented 36 homes in Greenville, mostly on Reade St. where he lived in a two-story house. All 36 homes were painted green. Boyd won a case in the US Supreme Court against the officials of Greenville who challenged his right to rent houses to Whites.

His first book - The Seventh Wonder of the World; Discoveries of the Twentieth Century, Natural Science was published in 1903. His second book was called Search-Light on the Bible with Natural Science; Discoveries of the Twentieth Century. His third book and final book was called Searchlight on the Seventh Wonder; X-ray and Searchlight on the Bible with Natural Science, and Revised Searchlight on the Seventh Day Bible and X-Ray by Organic, Supernatural and Artificial Science; Discoveries of the Twentieth Century.

In the last book he rebuked Christianity in this country and remarked that "no race can hope to survive [when] all of its greivances have to be settled by other races who are opposed to them as equals, on account of color."

Two weeks before he died, Boston bought two hundred acres of cleared land and seventy five acres of virgin timber. His daughter stated that he instructed her to allow people to live on the land rent-free during the depression era.