I'll Find a Way or Make One: A Tribute to Historically Black Colleges and Universities » (Reprint)

Dwayne Ashley is president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund (TMSF), an agency that provides scholarships, endowment-building assistance, and education and employment programs to HBCUs. Under his agency, TMSF has built relationships with the Coca-Cola Company, Miller Brewing, ING, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, and Gallup. He is a graduate of HBCU Wiley College and of the University of Pennsylvania's Fel School of Government.

From Juan Williams, author of Eyes on the Prize, comes a must-have definitive reference and gift book that explores the historical, social and cultural importance of America's 108 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) through personal interviews, historical narrative, photographs, and comprehensive reference material.

I'll Find a Way or Make One is a groundbreaking reading book featuring 200 black & white photographs. It explores the dramatic development and history of America's 108 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) through photos, historical memoir, anecdotal information, archival and contemporary materials, and personal interviews.

Stories abound about the abolishment of slavery. However, lesser known are the efforts--both prior to and after the Civil War--of African-American and white abolitionists banding together to formerly educate newly freed slaves. In 1861, the 28 known Black graduates went to the island of Port Royal, South Carolina, to take part in this educational experiment. The 18-month program and subsequent article that ran in Atlanta Monthly were instrumental in the government's commitment to educate Blacks after the war. Through the government, tireless work of Black churches, White missionary organizations and philanthropists, HBCUs were established. The tales of how these schools were created and the individuals who are linked to their histories are rich and often controversial These tales are the crux of I'll Find a Way or Make One.

HBCUs have come to be known as the backbone of America's Black middle class. Most importantly, I'll Find a Way or Make One reveals how the social and cultural atmosphere fostered at these institutions ultimately played a major role in shaping African Americana.

Publishers Weekly

For those who would question the continued need for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in a "post-civil rights era," Williams (Eyes on the Prize), a senior correspondent for NPR, and Ashley, president of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, offer this celebration of those institutions. Beginning with a look at newly freed African-Americans' yearnings for education and the Freedman's Bureau's early attempts to gauge the need (and support) for black schools, the authors move forward to profile the 100-plus HBCUs operating today. They highlight the many HBCU students who rose to prominence, from the Harlem Renaissance's brilliant Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston to the present day's media superstars Oprah Winfrey and Ed Bradley, filmmaker Spike Lee and political leaders David Dinkins and Vernon Jordan. They argue that HBCUs "were often hubs for African American communities, with black-owned businesses springing up to serve the students... [and staff] making their homes around the schools" and suggest that "HBCUs are the heart of black political thinking, art, and culture." Filled with history and anecdote, this volume offers a walk through the past and a peek at the future of America through the gift of HBCUs and their graduates. Photos. (Nov.) FYI: Royalties from the sale of this volume will go to the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.