“I get tears in my eyes when I think about it.” -George Hanford ’41, Harvard lacrosse goalie and teammate of Lucien Alexis, Jr.
“The story of Lucien earmarks a pivotal inflection point in the history of lacrosse, and of Harvard, and equally reminds us of just how far we’ve come, and how much further we have to go.” -Harvard lacrosse player Isaiah Dawson ’23, at the unveiling ceremony for a portrait of Lucien Alexis, Jr. ’42 at Harvard
In spring of 2024, a ceremony was held by the Harvard Foundation in Cambridge at which a portrait of Lucien Alexis, Jr., was unveiled as part of the portraiture projects of the foundation’s committee on Intercultural and Racial Relations. Alexis, a member of the class of 1942, was not only the first Black to ever be given housing on Harvard’s campus (Adams House) but was also the only Black member of his graduating class. In addition to his academic standing (he was first admitted to Harvard at the age of 14 but chose to attend Philips Exeter for two years before matriculating), which included his admission to Harvard Medical School and graduation from Harvard Business School, Alexis was a member of the college lacrosse team that made history in 1941.
Alexis gained national recognition when the US Naval Academy refused to allow him on the field for their match on April 4th held in Annapolis. The academy’s superintendent, Russell Wilson, was firm in his pronouncement that the Midshipmen would not take the field against a racially integrated team. In response Harvard coach Dick Snibbe wanted to forfeit the game in support of Alexis, but he was overruled by Harvard Athletic Director William Bingham. As a result, Alexis, a native of New Orleans only too acutely aware of the sanctioned prejudice of the era, wished his teammates well and defused the situation by informing several that it was his decision to forego participation in the game. He then boarded a train back to Boston and missed witnessing the Crimson suffer a 12-0 defeat.
Following the loss, word spread about the incident, with The Harvard Crimson writing of the college’s assent to “Jim Crowism.” Students organized a protest that included sending a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a member of the class of 1902. Shortly thereafter, public outcry, including a statement from Eleanor Roosevelt, forced the Harvard Athletic Association to announce that Harvard would never again agree to hold a player from a game based on race.
In a recollection published in The New Yorker immediately following Barack Obama’s election as President in 2008, Roger Angell recalled the ordeal of his classmate and wrote, “Alexis graduated and went into the service, as most of us did then. When he came back, he was accepted at Harvard Medical School but then told that he couldn’t attend after all, because there was no other black student in the entering class and thus no one he could room with. He went to Harvard Business School instead. He got his degree, went back to New Orleans, married and had children, and became the head of a small business college there. He died in 1975, at the age of fifty-three. He and I belong to what has sometimes been called “the Greatest Generation.” If most of us have felt uncomfortable about the honor, it may be because we’ve known that in some ways we haven’t been all that great. The election of Barack Obama as President could mean that all of us in the United States belong to the Greatest Generation now, and though this astounding event seems to have happened all of a sudden, for some people my age it wasn’t soon enough.”
