Before the ministry of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King (1929-1968), there were hundreds of other preachers that used the biblical tradition to promote a theology of equality and civil rights. This book, The Preacher of Morgantown, traces the life of one of these ministers, Rev. John Bernard Gibbs (1872-1944) of Morgantown, West Virginia. Reverend Gibbs wielded the gospel to encourage equality between black and white Americans.

Contained within this book is a selection of Rev. Gibbs' sermons, some of which, helped contribute to a generational and national discourse on race relations. His ministry, compounded by the works of others like him, helped lay the foundation of a civil rights theology more than a generation later.