CONNECT . MOTIVATE . INSPIRE .
College approached Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church in Atlanta, GA to ask them if they could use the church classroom space. During the discussion, one of the trustees, Stewart Wiley, stood up in the room and said, “If we are going to allow Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University) to use our church for classroom space, why don’t we just start our own school?” To which the pastor of the church at the time responded, “With the help of God, we will.” The church would make a proposal and resolution to the A.M.E. Church;, and on January 5, 1881, Morris Brown College was founded. Morris Brown is the only HBCU in the state of Georgia founded by Black people. “Morris Brown could not die,” Dr. James said. “When I learned about the history of the college, I told myself that it could not die. It is so important to the culture and to history.” This is where Dr. James’s aggressive social media strategy would play a major role in the movement to restore the college. ”I would post 3-5 times a day—not what I wanted to do—but what we actually did that day. I found that when people saw the progress, they were able to buy into it.” Whether it was a meeting with the Mayor, receiving a large check from a donor, hosting a student event, or being featured on local news, Dr. James made sure the world knew that Morris Brown was not dead. “One of the things I give my predecessor credit for is keeping the doors from permanently closing,” Dr. James said. In 2013, the institution filed bankruptcy in order to keep the doors open. “We
have never closed our doors since the institution was founded in 1881… The institution has continued pushing forward in educating and graduating students—many of which went on to pursue great careers as well as further their education at the masters and doctoral levels.” Walking the campus his first day on the job, Dr. James recalled a sermon his pastor preached. “When something weird is going on with your phone,” his pastor said, “you do a soft reset. But if you want to really clean your phone, you can do a hard reset and wipe everything clean.” It is this word that sparked the idea for the #HardReset. It was exactly what Dr. James felt Morris Brown had to do to restore itself. “My first week on the job, people didn’t really even want to talk to me,” Dr. James said. “The biggest challenge I had to overcome was getting people to believe that restoring the institution was possible. We have a lot of HBCUs that closed and are still closed today.” From corporate donors, to corporations, to others directly affiliated or connected to the college, many thought this aspiration was folly. “Getting our fundraising up to par was a serious challenge. Why would anyone want to give to an institution that had not moved the needle in almost 20 years?” After three years on the job, the effects of the "Hard Reset" could be clearly seen. “The finances were stable. We got approved by the State of Georgia (Georgia Non-Public Post-Secondary Education Commission). In January of 2021, the Transnational Association of
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