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‘Don’t let this remarkable story ever die’: The Dr. Percy and Lileah Harris Building in Cedar Rapids is now open

When his mother was growing up, she vowed she’d never marry a doctor, Peter Harris said. Lileah Furgerson was the daughter of a doctor, and knew the long hours they worked. The audience at the dedication ceremony for the new Dr. Percy and Lileah Harris building laughed when Peter mentioned his mother’s vow. Lileah did, in fact, end up marrying a doctor: Percy Harris, the first black physician in Cedar Rapids. The couple […]

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The Dr. Percy and Lileah Harris Building, named in honor of two Cedar Rapids civil rights pioneers, will open on Friday

“Every now and again it seems the universe bestows upon humanity one of those ethereal and affable personalities that end up changing the world for the better. Here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, we had one of those personalities in Dr. Percy Harris. As far as heroes go, he was the exemplar,” Linn County Supervisor Stacey Walker wrote in a Little Village letter […]

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