Crusading for Gains In the Black Movement

More than 400 students occupied University Hall on April 9, 1969 But only one of them was Black.

While the protests of the late 1960s mobilized most of the campus, Black graduates say they were not part of the masses crusading for causes such as the abolition of University ties to the Reserved Officers' Training Corps. Black students, say they had their own, personal mission.

Black students campaigned for the creation of an Afro-American studies department. They advocated increased recruitment of Black students and asked for the University's support of students who felt dislocated from the Black community.

These issues mattered to Black students. White students protested, too, but their causes that direct bearing on their daily lives.

The issues pursued by the Black community had immediate and direct impact on the lives of the approximately 120 Black students who attended Harvard and Radcliffe in 1969.

"I don't know what you do at University Hall to stop Vietnam," says Charles J. Hamilton '69, former editor of The Harvard Journal of Negro Affairs, of the issue most important to white students at the time.

The causes pursued by Blacks affected their day-to-day existence on campus. "One didn't leave these issues at the gates of Harvard," Hamilton says.

Hamilton says the activist efforts of Black students had a clear focus. At the center of these efforts was a set of concrete demands.

"I think that the Black students at the time had a very, very clear focus," Hamilton says. "A very large portion of the Black students on campus felt that things had to change."

Despite their distinct agendas, some Black students sought support from activist groups that were primarily white. The African and Afro-American Association of Students (AAAAS), the forerunner of the Black Student's Association (BSA), appealed for help from the predominantly white Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

The two groups, despite their different goals, shared the same cynicism of authority. "What came through in the 1960s was that those in charge had no right to tell those not in charge what to do," says Lee A. Daniels '71, who is Black.

But AAAAS, the primary Black student group on campus during the '60s, always remained--at root--a lone operator.

Without any concrete pledge for help other than an SDS stamp of approval, Black students forged their own movement.

Daniels, who was an editor of The Crimson, says Black students believed that they had to make their presence felt at Harvard. "We had to show [that] we're not here as figments of someone's imagination," he says. "We needed to feel that this was our home too, that it was our college, too."

The Rosovsky Report--a product of the demands the Black students made for an Afro-American studies department--tried to make the Harvard experience a more satisfactory one for Black students.

The report granted the students most of their demands.

As a result of the report, the Faculty overwhelmingly approved of a cultural center for Black students, and the University began to offer more classes in Afro-American studies.

But many students were outraged because the report diluted their biggest demand: the call for an Afro-Am department. The report called only for the establishment of a committee on Afro-Am, but students held out for a formal department.

Several days after SDS members took over University Hall, the Faculty acceded to student demands. Although only one Black student participated in the takeover, the threat of another student uprising motivated the Faculty to give Afro-Am department status.

"I don't think the faculty gave a damn in 1969 about the creation of an Afro-Am department," Daniels says.

A Continuing Struggle

While graduates say progress has been made, they and current Black students say the issue are still germane.

"I think significant progress has been made," Hamilton says, "but you want the University to have an ongoing commitment and involvement."

And Daniels agrees that "There still needs to be major work in terms of recruitment of [Black] faculty."

Alvin L. Bragg Jr. '95, president of the BSA, says the University must hire more Black faculty in areas other than Afro-American Studies.

Daniels says he believes that there is a dearth of Black faculty because "aside from implicit racial and chauvinist considerations, you're talking about power and status....That the final analysis."

Bragg says current Black students share some of the same problems of their predecessors. In Particular, the Black community at Harvard is fragmented, he says, and there remains a burden on Blacks to be the integrating force on campus.

Also, Bragg says Black students must contend with charges that they are at the College because of affirmative action.

The fragmentation of Black students is exacerbated by the view of Blacks as a monolithic community, Hamilton says. That view was part of what AAAAS was fighting, he says.

Problems From Within

Although AAAAS's goals were unique, they were influenced by the mood of the country and the spirit of activism at Harvard. In fact, most of AAAAS's leaders were extremely involved in the Harvard community.

Hamilton says he was "in a board range of activities," including The Crimson, the Institute of Politics and WHRB.

Many societal problems also affected AAAAS. In 1969, all leadership positions in the group were held by males. This was a source of tension between the leadership and many of the women in the organization, including Lani C. Guinier '71, the University of Pennsylvania Law School professor and this year's Class Day speaker. According to Robert L. Hall '69, many Radcliffe students felt alienated by AAAAS.

And the conditions in the student group were exacerbated by the low number of Black admits to Radcliffe. The Radcliffe Class of 1971 had only 15 Black students.

Some of these students immersed themselves in the Boston area Black community. Daniels says he gained some prominence in AAAAS because he was from Boston and knew many people in the Black community.

Hall says he taught African history in the area.

Other Black students also tried to find and display their cultural heritage. first-years in the Class of 1972 refused to abide by the Harvard Unions dress code, which required a wore traditional African garb.

Although Daniels recognizes that Harvard has made great strides in including Blacks, he says the University "could always be doing more."

"Harvard and a lot of other places are relatively speaking, doing, good," Daniels says. "But frankly, I don't think the country can wait. People are demanding their share and they're going to get their share."