Man of Sterling Worth
Description
The author will be at Four Seasons Books on February 4th at 1:00 pm for a signing and discussion.
For 88 years after the end of the Civil War, Storer College educated hundreds of African Americans who gathered on its campus in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. This is the story of Storer’s longest serving Black teacher. A Storer graduate himself, William Allen Saunders became the school’s beating heart. He was known as a devoted friend of struggling youth, who not only boarded students in his home, but did everything in his power to aid their progress. While Storer College helped make “Prof Saunders” the man he was, he taught so many courses over so many years and touched so many lives that he, in turn, significantly shaped the 20th-century
Storer experience. Over his 54 years as a resident of Harpers Ferry,
Saunders also became a trusted spiritual leader and a well- known figure throughout the thriving Black community then living beyond Storer’s campus. All of these aspects are explored here by author Lynn Pechuekonis, who resides in Saunders’ former home.
This book uniquely turns its focus on black life both at Storer College and in Harpers Ferry during the Jim Crow era—all viewed through the lens of a dedicated teacher who was praised as a “man of sterling worth” and the “friend of every righteous cause.”