Lucien Alexis Jr.; African-American Lacrosse player and student benched by Harvard University 75 yea

Lucien Victor Alexis (1887-1981), the New Orleans born scientist that was given the name "Negro Einstein" at Harvard University. Not having the finances to do so, he began working in 1907 (at the age of twenty) as a railway mail clerk, saving for the education he so desperately desired. By the time he reached twenty-seven he had set aside enough money for four years of college. He applied and was accepted at Harvard but was asked to attend (for one year) Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, a prestigious preparatory high school. While at Exeter, he lived in the home of Mr. H.F. Quimby and soon developed a keen interest in foreign languages and the sciences. By now he had had only enough money for three years upon entering Harvard,so he managed by graduating “cum laude” a year early (1917). It was there, at Harvard, that he earned the nickname: “The Negro Einstein.”

On April 5th, 1941, Harvard student and lacrosse player, Lucien Alexis Jr., was benched during a lacrosse match with the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. By doing so, the University acceded to the academy's segregation policy, which forbade black players on its publicly funded grounds.

With help from protesters lashing out among the ranks of its faculty, students, and alumni, and the wider community , Harvard reconsidered. It had a tradition to uphold as one of the world's leading institutions for the education of world-class leaders and that included African-American leaders. In its own best interests, and that of its students, on April 21st, 1941, Harvard University announced that it would no longer bench its lacrosse players because of race.