In 1968, a visionary priest recruited 20 black men to the College of the Holy Cross and changed their lives and the course of history.
November 7, 2011
Tucked under a title suggesting beer kegs and silliness rests a serious, readable narrative of four years in the life of the Rev. John Brooks and the cohort of extraordinary young black men he shepherded through Holy Cross College from their arrival to their 1972 graduation. Galvanized by Marin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in April 1968, “a time to heed King’s call to action and take up the mantle of civil rights,” Rev. Brooks secured authorization “to seek out black recruits and offer them full scholarships to the College of the Holy Cross.” By September, Holy Cross, in Massachusetts, had 19 black freshmen and one transfer, a remarkable achievement in an institution that “rarely admitted more than two black men in any given year.” The young men turned out to be a remarkable group as well, including, among the figures Brady attends most closely to, Edward P. Jones, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Known World; Theodore Wells, “widely considered to be one of the greatest trial lawyers of his generation,” having represented Scooter Libby and Michael Milken; and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the transfer student. Although the topic may seem parochial, Brady, senior editor at BusinessWeek, has produced a cogent account that ripples more broadly and addresses issues that remain, notably affirmative action programs, but also the roles of faculty and staff, of alumni, and even parents in determining the direction of a college.
November 1, 2011
A tribute to the cadre of black students who arrived at the College of the Holy Cross in the fall of 1968, and to the professor who recruited them. In the mid-'60s, Holy Cross typically admitted only two black students per year. Convinced that this ethnic homogeneity risked consigning his college to irrelevance in a changing era, the Rev. John Brooks, a professor of theology, set out to recruit promising black students for the class entering in the fall of 1968. Brooks proved to be an extraordinary talent scout. His incoming group of 20 included Edward Jones, who would win a Pulitzer Prize in 2004; Edward Jenkins, who would play for the Miami Dolphins; Theodore Wells, today one of the nation's premier trial attorneys; and a sophomore transfer student named Clarence Thomas. In this workmanlike debut, Bloomberg BusinessWeek contributor Brady follows this group of courageous young men as they adapted to the challenges of college life in an overwhelmingly white institution and city, and as the college adapted to their arrival. Brooks was a persistent mentor and advocate for these students and their successors in later classes; he insisted that some adaptation was necessary, as the black students "didn't have the role models in the classroom or the easy comfort of being in the majority." He argued for extra consideration but not lower standards, encouraging his colleagues to strive "to understand where skin color made a difference, and where it did not." The actual conflicts that arose as a result of the influx of black students are familiar: demands for more black faculty and students, black studies classes, more scholarship aid, separate black living quarters, a disciplinary process more sensitive to the concerns of students of color. Brady narrates the college's navigation through these controversies without much further analysis. Similarly, her portraits of various students ably describe their personal struggles without considering which racial issues they confronted may have been unique to the times and which are of persisting relevance. The book succeeds as an encomium to Brooks and his band of pioneering brothers, but misses an opportunity to excel as either biography or timely history.
(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
August 1, 2011
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward P. Jones. Leading defense attorney Thomas Wells. Former New York City deputy mayor Stanley Grayson. And Miami Dolphins running back Eddie Jenkins. What they have in common is Rev. John Brooks, a Jesuit priest at Holy Cross College who in 1968 brought talented young African American high schoolers to the college and then mentored--with obviously stellar results. BusinessWeek senior editor Brady has pulled together what should be a heartening and eye-opening book. She even got Justice Thomas to talk. Important.
Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.