News clippings relating to racism in athletics, 1941
Published: 1941
Language: eng
Subjects: African American college students; Sports; Lacrosse; Racism in sports; Discrimination in sports; African American athletes; Racism; Harvard University; College sports; United States Naval Academy
Description: Photocopies of news clippings relating to Lucien Victor Alexis, a Harvard student banned from a lacrosse match in 1941.
Notes: For negative film, see HUA 941.59.2.

Lucien Victor Alexis (Harvard AB 1942), an African American on the Harvard lacrosse team, was banned from playing in a game against the United States Naval Academy in April 1941. The Naval Academy team balked at playing against a team that include an African American player. It offered Harvard three choices: bench Alexis, have the Navy forfeit if Alexis played or call Harvard officials. When contacted, Harvard's Athletic Director William J. Bingham agreed to send Alexis back to Cambridge. Harvard lost the match, 12-0. The ban against Alexis' participation by the Harvard Athletic Association was contested by the Harvard Crimson, which began a campaign of protest. The Crimson was supported by other student groups, including the Harvard Student Union, faculty groups, and national organizations including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Federation of Labor. Students presented petitions to Harvard's president, James Conant Bryant, and telegrammed President Franklin D. Roosevelt, an alumnus of Harvard (Harvard AB 1904) and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. The controversy was picked up by newspapers across the country, and resulted in a ruling by the Harvard Corporation stating that there should be no racial discrimination amongst Harvard students. It further stipulated that athletic relations would be severed with competing teams who demonstrated such discrimination.

However, the principle did not apply to athletics alone: the controversy was concurrent with the banning of an African American member of the Harvard Glee Club from participating in the 1941 spring tour which included Southern States. Later in the season Alexis participated in a match at West Point; the army team did not protest. Alexis enlisted in the Army in 1943.