Black Alumni Events Draw Hundreds

In what was the largest ever gathering of its kind, 600 black students and alums met in Cambridge this weekend to celebrate, remember and bond around the experience of being black at Harvard.

Alums ranging from the class of 1947 to the class of 2003 attended panels, networked at career seminars and met with administrators at the third ever Harvard Black Alumni Weekend. A similar weekend was last organized in 1986.

“Let me pledge when you come to the next one you won’t need a briefing page to remember the last one.” University President Lawrence H. Summers told the crowd at a Saturday morning welcome speech.

The weekend culminated Saturday evening at a black tie dinner at the Cambridge Marriott featuring the president and CEO of CNBC, Pamela A. Thomas-Graham ’85.

Thomas-Graham, who is also a graduate of both Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School, called business “the next front in the civil rights movement,” telling the audience that blacks could improve society by attaining powerful positions in the business world.

“Right now we have four black CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies collectively employing hundreds of thousands of individuals worldwide,” she said. “Imagine the possibilities of transforming societies that just these four men have.”

Men and women who played active roles in the civil rights movement either as lawyers or activists are now “sitting in corner offices” as business executives, she said.

She encouraged undergraduates to seek careers in business.

“I know that there are a number of you who are undergraduates who are thinking about how to make a contribution,” she said. “I’d offer the opinion that if you want to make a difference in your career, business can be a very powerful way to do that.”

Later in her speech, Thomas-Graham told current undergraduates that to succeed it was important to take risks, embrace impossible dreams and understand power.

She recounted the experience of her appointment as CEO of CNBC two years ago in the midst of a weak economy and advertising market, corporate scandals, and an economy still reeling from the September 11 terrorist attacks.

“I arrived at CNBC just in time for the perfect storm, but that challenge gave me the opportunity to create a culture where the best idea wins,” she said.

Thomas-Graham, who was introduced by another corporate leader, Morgan Stanley Managing Director Raymond J. McGuire ’79, also read to the audience from novels she had written.

During her free early mornings and weekends Thomas-Graham completed a 3-book mini-series of Ivy League mysteries.

She just finished the final book “Orange Crushed,” set at Princeton and due for release in June 2004.

In her first novel, “A Darker Shade of Crimson” the protagonist gives the reader advice for surviving at Harvard, including, “laugh at their jokes, shout when necessary, dress impeccably, have a best friend, and be very, very good”—a passage that drew chuckles from the audience.

In addition to Thomas-Graham, S. Allen Counter, the director of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, and David L. Evans, senior admissions officer of Harvard College, were the night’s official honorees.

“I think it’s very important for African-Americans to share their experiences with each other.” Thomas-Graham said. “I was happy to participate.”

Black student leaders—who had been planning the event for eighteen months—said they were pleased with the turnout.

“My main hope—and I’m sure I share this with the rest of the committee—is that in the coming years we will be able to ride the wave of enthusiasm toward student-alum and alum-alum relations to provide warm and intellectual resources to one another.” said Jennifer N. Wynn ’06, the Black Student Association’s Alumni Representative.

—Staff writer Monica M. Clark can be reached at mclark@fas.harvard.edu.