The Greater San Diego Morehouse College Alumni Association (GSDMCAA) has created an initiative to raise funds in support of the our alma mater for its Unrestricted/Annual Fund . Lemar R. Slater ’00, Chapter President, has appointed James E. Schell ’49 to spearhead the initiative. To accomplish this:
Dr. Schell will donate the proceeds from the sale of his book, We Call Our Daddy Mister to be gained from a nationwide campaign. All alumni and friends of Morehouse are requested to buy/sell as many books as needed to raise at least $1,000,000 over time.
We Call Our Daddy “Mister” chronicles the story of Burrell Harrell, the son of a Confederate soldier. Harrell refused to abide by the customs and traditions of the Stars and Bars. He took up with a mulatto woman who bore him nine white children, five boys and four girls. They lived as a family in Georgia, contrary to custom and law. Harrell took on all comers to safeguard his children. His children were not accepted as white; they lived a difficult life being neither white nor black, but were conditioned culturally as black.
“Mister Burrell” loved his family but toward the end of his life, he willed all of his belongings to a nephew – the son of a profligate brother – leaving his family without land or legal means to prosper. The holdings of Mister Burrell were about 2000 acres, 500 hundred head of cattle, and a whole creek.
Probate of the will disclosed the probability of second, more recent will, allowing his heirs and Harrell’s children to challenge the first will. Though the challenges were successfully fought off by the nephew, he lived in fear of having to give up land.
Two of Burrell’s daughters, 86 and 78 years old in 2006, still live on land previously owned by their Daddy. These very lands were recently bought by the State of Georgia and leased to the KIA Corporation of Korea to manufacture automobiles. The state paid Burrell Harrell $145.00 an acre in 1965; today the same land is valued at $12,500 per acre. They hope to be compensated eventually.
The book will be sold at $20.00 each ($23.95 regular). The College will receive at least Ten Dollars per copy sold. The Campaign will be administered by The HiBisCUn Corporation, a non-profit entity, a Delaware Corporation first established in 1989 and reestablished in 2013 for supporting Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Dr. Schell is its principal.
(Please checkout Dr. Schell’s web site: www.jamesschell.com. Only those books sold under this initiative through HiBisCUn apply. Proceeds to Morehouse are directed to the Office for Institutional Advancement.)
It is suggested that where feasible, a “local” alumni chapter be the focal point for sales/ordering/book signings, distribution, and the like.
Particulars
Ordering:
The HiBisCUn Corporation
6052 Piros Way
Ocean Hills, California 92056-7265
Orders will be processed when accompanied with full payment. Please include full payment with order.
Information: (760) 945-0141
We have to sell at least 100,000 copies of the book. The campaign begins immediately. Your requests for book signings/speeches will be honored (Priority will be given where honoraria are offered).
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