Grants preserve history

July 29 was an auspicious occasion for Rust College.

Friends of the college and some of the graduates of Mississippi Industrial College gathered on the lawn of MI to celebrate the award of $1.5 million to go toward the restoration of Booker T. Washington Hall.

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker remarked about the history of the college and the importance of preserving Washington Hall and Carnegie Hall.

It is anticipated that it will take $10 million to complete restoration of Washington Hall and $14 million to restore Carnegie.

Dr. Ivy Taylor, president of Rust since 2020, is receiving accolades for her vision for Rust College and the preservation of historic structures on the MI College campus.

When she arrived in Holly Springs, Taylor said her breath was taken away at the history, architecture and grandeur and potential to recapture the history of MI.

Carnegie Hall will be used as a place for the arts, performances, tours, small conferences and academic activities.

Upon renovation, Washington Hall will be renamed the Ida B. Wells Interpretive Center.

Rust purchased the MI campus in 2008 and dedicated itself to preserving the history of the institution and to equip and inspire communities throughout the world, Taylor said.

Rev. Zack Beasley, on the board of trustees, added bouyancy by asking each person to turn to a neighbor and say, “You are a beautiful person. And you are telling the truth.

“We live in a wonderful world. The sky is still blue, rivers still run, and grass still turns green.” Dr. Jesse Edwards, with the MI College Alumni Association, covered some of the history of MI. From Tate County, son of a cotton farmer, he described the atmosphere at MI and Rust when he studied there. At the time both colleges were in operation.

Some highlights of his presentation included his eating grits in the cafeteria below Carnegie Hall and studying in the 2,000-seat auditorium, one of the largest of its kind among black institutions of the day.

He compared Bishop Elais Cottrell, who founded four colleges and born in Marshall County in 1853 as a slave, to the greats like Isaac Lane, Booker T. Washington, and Frederick Douglass.

Lane, fourth bishop of the Black CME Church, born a slave March 4, 1834, in Madison County Tenn., founded Lane College. He taught himself to read and write.

“I was nurtured here. I learned how to learn here. I was saved here. I was exposed to black history here,” Edwards said. “I hold four college degrees.”

“I left in 1975, motivated and inspired,” he said.

Architect Belinda Stewart spoke of the importance of preserving the buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“Amazing things happened here,” she said. “I am looking for stories that can be used in furthering of this work and the motivation of young people. How transformative it will be. We just can’t wait to see where it goes from here.”

Holly Springs Mayor Sharon Gipson said MI is personally historical to her, a place where she sold Girl Scout cookies and learned leadership skills.

“I remember the vibrant days of MI College,” she said.

Charles Terry, a member of the Marshall County Board of supervisors noted the progress in the area recently.

“Marshall County is not a good place to be from, it’s a good place to be in,” he said. “You can’t do it alone, it takes local, state and federal (dollars).”

State representative John Faulkner noted the untold number of times he has driven by the MI campus. He applauded Taylor for undertaking the project.

“She and her team are up for the challenge. Pride will be reborn as the result of this project,” he said.

Mississippi Senator Neil Whaley, who introduced Wicker, spoke of the importance of restoring and preserving history.

Wicker, who hails from Pontotoc, praised Rust College for the bright future Taylor brings to the institutions. He recognized Belinda Stewart as choice for architect for the projects.

Wicker said as a child he passed through Holly Springs at night on his way back and from visits with his grandmother in Memphis, Tenn.

“Belinda, if you want to know a little more history, I made a speech in 1975 in this very building,” the senator said.

He was campaigning for Kay Towery of Oxford for state senator.

“That I was here and got to make a speech here. I long, long thought what a tragedy it would be to lose these buildings,” Wicker said.

Wicker referred to Hebrews 12: 1-2, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

Cecelia W. Sawyer, chair of the board of trustees, closed the presentations referring to “my beloved Alma Mater, Rust College,” which she said is in rebirth and renaissance.

Rust and MI colleges changed the lives of people for decades, she said.

“The institutions are a combination of community and place, the same audacious dream put Holly Springs on the map of mighty excellence in education,” Sawyer said.