1891: A Novel about Stanford University

In the back of my mind, I have been thinking about providing visitors to Stanford University with a guide to the historical sites that can still be seen, that haven’t been covered with shopping centers and parking lots. The guide would be provided at my site Http://earthlink.net/~jerryfranks. There is already something there but this guide would be more comprehensive.

It would start out in Palo Alto at the infamous tree which gave the area its name and the reason for being. It is at the end of Alma Street. Somewhat overshadowed now, but at one time, it overshadowed everything in the vacinity. Further down Alma, you can see the old Waterworks, originally designed by Dr. Marx. There are other sites in PA but those come up at a later date, and I want to stick to those associated with 1891: A Novel about Stanford University. The next place to go would be the mausoleum where the Stanfords and their son are buried. Nearby is a statue of the family group. The statue should be in the Memorial Quad where the Roudin statues are located. But that is another matter.

I can see this is going to take longer than I expected, so will continue at a later date. Remember this is a rough outline of what I plan to do.

Fledgling Novelist Takes on Daunting Subject: Stanford University  Jerry Franks, the novelist, seventy-nine years old, Stanford class of ’50, resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, is old enough that he should know better. When asked why he had decided to make the behemoth institution the setting for his first novel, Mr. Franks replied, “I saw a picture of the Memorial Church with a spire that fell during the 1906 earthquake and realized how little I knew about Stanford. Trips to the Green and Palo Alto Libraries convinced me there was material for a series of novels. I was hooked.”

Just published last month, 1891: A Novel about Stanford University is an ambitious retelling of the trials and tribulations faced in the early months by pioneering students, faculty, and administration.  Points of view are shared by Stanford’s first registrar, Orrin Leslie Elliott, and his wife, Ellen; a Jewish student; an ex-Army Captain who fought in the Indian Wars; and a young woman whose father was killed by agents of the Southern Pacific Railroad.

As to the potential popularity of the book, Mr. Franks was equivocal.  “Of course, I like it and love the characters. Friends and relatives tell me they enjoyed it. One Stanford fellow, a fact checker, said he could hardly wait for the sequel and the movie. He might have been kidding. The closest thing to an objective, critical evaluation was that the iUniverse evaluator, a Stanford alumna, thought it was fascinating. That’s not a word I would use, but I’ll take it.” Neither success nor failure will diminish Mr. Franks’ determination to complete the writing of his saga.  “I can’t let my characters down,” Mr. Franks said. “Their stories deserve to be told, particularly when I found out an African-American, Ernest Johnson, was a member of the Class of 1895. Can you imagine Ernest Johnson and President Herbert Hoover were members of the same class? I wonder if they knew one another. Even the thought of it, excites me.”

1891: A Novel about Stanford University is available at your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon.com.

For more information you may contact Jerry Franks at jerryfranks@earthlink.net,  More information about 1891 and the author is available at http://home.earthlink.net/~jerryfranks or http://anovelaboutstanforduniversity.blog.com

I was putting the final touches to the first version of the novel I was writing about Stanford University (There would be countless more.) when I read the article about Ernest Johnson in the Stanford Magazine article for November/December of 2004. Ernest was the first and only African American to graduate from Stanford for the next fifty years. He got his AB in economics in 1895 and then studied law for the next two years without getting his degree. He contracted tuberculosis and died in February of 1898. Thus ended the life of an individual whom might have made significant contributions to the status of his fellow African Americans.

By the time I found out all this, it was too late to have him as a significant character in my first book, 1891: A Novel about Stanford University. The best I could do, during the novel, was to have David Starr Jordan refuse to acknowledge several letters from Beverly Johnson, Ernest’s father, which mentioned Mrs. Stanford recommendation. Dr. Jordan was justified to do this because no Negroes were being admitted. To my knowledge, this same policy referred to Jewish people. Although, several Japanese and later some Chinese were admitted. At the end of my novel, Mrs. Stanford insists, and Dr. Jordan demurs and tells his registrar, Orrin (Leslie) Elliott (One of my main characters) to send a letter of acceptance to Ernest for the second semester, beginning in February, and that is when Ernest will appear in my second novel, 1892.

This period of time was life threatening for African Americans. The number of lynchings reached its zenith. Any movement towards eliminating black crow laws was curtailed. Luckily, Ernest was raised in Sacramento and his persistent father was able to have him schooled in Anglo-Saxon schools. It is even more remarkable that Mrs. Stanford took that much of an interest in his education.

The article in the Stanford Magazine indicates that UC-Berkeley accepted Ernest after he graduated from high school, but I doubt it. I did some research after finding out about Ernest and I thought Cal might have been more liberal, but the first African American to graduate from there was in the twenties. It would be fifty more years before an African American would get his degree from Stanford.

In getting his degree, Ernest would have needed an infrastructure to support his journey through those four years. I created a fictional one, which had as its primary foundation, Leslie Elliott and his wife, Ellen. I know for a fact from a directory published during that period that Ernest lived in the Elliott’s residence. Ellen refers in her book to a student living in the attic, and it must have been Ernest. Additionally, I have a group of students from the 1891 who were perfect to support him. One is a Jew, another is a student with two wooden legs, the third is Chinese, and last two are two footballers. I am also working on a fictional theory about why Mrs. Stanford was interested.

Ernest Johnson graduated in the Class of 1895 and my books will honor him for that.