From the Ashes I Rise: Dare to do the Impossible

The story of how a little girl, who watched the flames leaping from her torched beloved store in Arkansas, lived during a turbulent time in American History.

This little girl fell in love, married, dropped out of college, and survived an abusive marriage. As a single mother of five, she returned to college at age 38, with four children to support; earned her Bachelor’s Degree, a Master’s Degree, and Ph.D. Degree and traveled to the State of California. I was the little girl who rose. I rose through the ranks to become a Full Professor and Professor Emeritus at California State University San Bernardino.

Along the journey, I founded and became CEO of Provisional Educational Services, Incorporated (PESI), a community-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which has continuously provided education, employment training, jobs, and numerous community-based services to thousands of recipients since December 1984. The Dr. Mildred Dalton Henry Elementary School is a testimony to a road well-traveled.

From the Ashes I Rise takes the reader on an ancestral journey from Mississippi slavery, through unprecedented entrepreneurial successes and arson in Arkansas, to the promises of California. Chopping and picking cotton, milking cows, ‘slopping hogs’, and attending inferior and unequal segregated public schools made Dr. Henry very sensitive to cultural variables and past experiences, and how they impact current behavior.

The vivid memories of arsonists burning the family cotton gin and general store in Arkansas, and the words “You don't need no house, your little nigger kids ain’t never gon’ ‘mount to nothing nohow”, spoken to my mother, propelled me to dare to do the impossible. From my birth and, throughout the years when the threads of life began to unravel, someone was there to tie the ends. Therefore, from a little girl, when I came to the end of a rope, I tied a knot and held on.

Immerse yourself into a vivid account of the accomplishments of African American pioneers despite the genocidal efforts of adversaries. I was determined to rise from the ashes of the burned-out farmlands of Arkansas to the abundant deserts and mountains of California and beyond.