About the book
“On the evening of his retirement from the presidency of Dillard University in 1997, it seemed that the entire City of New Orleans had come out to celebrate the extraordinary accomplishments o the school’s leader. Politicians honored him. Scholars honored him. City luminaries honored him.
But when this giant of a man rose to speak, literally and figuratively towering above us all, he spoke with tremendous passion about his greatest source of pride, “the students.” He thanked us for being his teacher, for sustaining him with hope, inspiration, and possibility in an uncertain world.
Samuel DuBois Cook was a brilliant scholar. The most decent of men. A humanist. A bridge builder. A truth teller. A trailblazer in white-dominated higher education. Martin Luther King’s soulmate. A fellow son of God.
Thsi volume celebrates all of these in the teacher and the mentor that was Dr. Cook- in the words of his students at Dillard and Duke University, who loved him back. He was “that teacher” to all fo us. He remains our moral compass today.
Our nation and our world miss his voice. In these essays, we do our best to reflect that voice for ourselves, our children, and our children’s children. It’s the least we can do.” ~ Andy Burness
