Oakland activist honored for mission to send more than 160 students to college
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- An Oakland community activist credited with opening the doors to higher education for more than 160 students, received a special honor from the state on Tuesday.
"Today is Oral Lee Brown Day in California," Tony Thurmond, the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction said as he handed Brown a Proclamation. "Thank you for your service and congratulations, this is for you!"
It was a moment of honor for Brown, who made a promise to a class of 23 first graders nearly 40 years ago.
MORE: Santa Clara Univ. program could cover full tuition need for some incoming students
43-year-old Cory Edwards remembers the moment Brown walked into his class at Brookfield Elementary School.
"She said if you stick to it and graduate, I will pay for you to go to any college you want to go to and she stuck to it," Cory Edwards, a former student said.
He credits her with saving his life.
"Once you heard that, everything changed," Edwards said. "She helped us dream, to hear something like that, you immediately start dreaming. I came from a good household but not everybody gets a chance to dream."
Brown went on to serve more than 160 students from low-income families who may not have otherwise had a chance to go to college. She helped them not just through a check upon graduation, but also tutoring, mentoring, field trips, banquets and more.
MORE: Bay Area high school grad rejected by 16 colleges hired by Google
"We can either work with them and take care of them now or we can take care of them the rest of our life and the rest of their lives," Brown said.
She's the CEO and founder of the Oral Lee Brown Foundation said and credits her humble beginnings in the Deep South with leading her on this mission.
"I had lived in Batesville, Mississippi, picking cotton for $2 a day and I survived off of that, and so when God blessed me to leave there, there's nothing that he won't ask me to do that I won't do," Brown said.
State Superintendent Tony Thurmond says there's a reason he chose to honor brown during Black History Month, in front of a gym full of Oakland students.
"Ms. Brown shared a lot of personal experiences, her migration here from the Deep South, overcoming racism, the students making connections to other famous Black Americans like Jackie Robinson," Thurmond said. "We hope students from all backgrounds take something from that."
Brown's final message to students watching was to not waste the whole future they still have in front of them.
"Work toward that goal, don't settle for that bottom, rise to the top, be all that you can be, it's yours, take it and run with it," Brown said.
