Between 1910 and the mid-1920s, more than sixty black students from the
South bravely traveled north to Ferris Institute, a small, mostly white
school in Big Rapids, Michigan. They came to enroll in college programs
and college preparatory courses--and to escape, if only temporarily, the
daily and ubiquitous indignities suffered under the Jim Crow racial
hierarchy. They excelled in their studies and became accomplished in
their professional fields. Many went on to both ignite and help lead the
explosive civil rights movement. Very few people know their
stories--until now.
Haste to Rise is a book about the incredible resilience and
breathtaking accomplishments of those students. It was written to
unearth, contextualize, and share their stories and important lessons
with this generation. Along the way we are introduced to dozens of these
Jim Crow-era students, including the first African American to win a
case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Belford Lawson, the lead attorney in
New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co. (1938), a landmark court
battle that safeguarded the right to picket. We also meet one of
Lawson's contemporaries, Percival L. Prattis, a pioneering journalist
and influential newspaper executive. In 1947, he became the first
African American news correspondent admitted to the U.S. House and
Senate press galleries. There is also an in-depth look into the life and
work of the institute's founder, Woodbridge Nathan Ferris, a racial
justice pioneer who created educational opportunities for women,
international students, and African Americans.
Haste to Rise is a challenge to others to look beyond a university's
official history and seek a more complete knowledge of its past. This is
American history done right!
