Wharton’s first undergraduate, Raymond Pace Alexander, was born in Philadelphia in 1897 to a working class family. After his mother died in 1909, he was forced to support himself. This however, did not hinder Raymond’s academic performance as he entered Penn on scholarship in 1917 upon his graduation from Central High School. In just six years Raymond Alexander graduated from the Wharton School (1920) and Harvard Law School (1923). Not only is this an impressive feat for any man, for a Black man to do this during the 1920s is truly remarkable. While at Harvard, he met Sadie Tanner Mossell and the same year as his graduation, they wed.

After graduating from two of the most prestigious schools in their respective academic fields, Raymond and Sadie Alexander returned to Philadelphia. Soon after, he founded what would become “Philadelphia’s premier black law firm.” His achievements do not stop here. From 1933-1935 Alexander served as the president of the National Bar Association. He also served on the Philadelphia city council from 1951-1958 before becoming the first Black judge in the Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia. In a more public scope, Raymond was well known for his legal representation on behalf of the NAACP in many cases, in addition to numerous racial or civil rights cases he served on. One of his most famous cases resulted in the end of segregation in Pennsylvania schools. Additionally, he worked with Thurgood Marshall to clear six falsely accused Blacks of murder. 1974 marked the end of the incredible of Raymond Pace Alexander.

Evan Lyons, W’14

The Black Caucus spoke out against injustice at Penn and around the world, demanding changes in institutional policies and practices. In March 1986 during the time of apartheid in South Africa, the Caucus sent a letter to then President Sheldon Hackney on behalf of all black groups to object the University’s divestment policy, which included funding South Africa’s government and other large companies, as well as giving money to South African banks that supported the manufacturing of weapons. The Black Caucus questioned Penn’s financial relationship with South Africa, stating, “We, who are black, can hardly be expected to sit by calmly and carry on with ‘business as usual’ while the Trustees invest our tuition dollars in the murder of our black kinsmen in South Africa…For us, it is as if Penn in 1939 or 1943 were investing in Nazi Germany and expected Jewish students tamely to tolerate the investment of their money in the Holocaust.”* Fueled by a sense of social responsibility, the Caucus was also active in forming solutions, submitting a Joint Resolution on Divestment to Penn Trustees in which they suggested policy changes such as reducing the time the South African government had to dismantle apartheid from 18 to six months. The Black Caucus questioned Penn’s policies and rallied around common causes and to make an impact.

As Penn was striving to promote to black students and increase diversity, the Caucus continued to monitor the development of such initiatives in preparation for prospective black students. For instance, while many current black students may fondly reflect upon their Scholars’ Weekend, a time when prospective minority students get to experience a preview of Penn at its finest, the Black Caucus organized a boycott it in 1986. The Caucus members eventually voted against picketing in front of the Office of Admissions, but decided instead to inform prospective students of the prevalence of racism at Penn. They clarified their intentions stating, “We are saying, do come to Penn, but understand that Penn is racist and that you will encounter racism here. So come here prepared to face and fight against it.” The Black Caucus mobilized Penn students to make effective changes in their environment and to stand against those injustices.

-Cecelela Tomi, C’13

Since he was five years old, Dr. Guthrie P. Ramsey has performed music, beginning with his mastery of the piano. So, it’s no wonder that by the age of eighteen, Professor Ramsey’s gift of music led him to tour the country with various bands.

After giving back to his hometown of Chicago by serving as both an elementary and high school teacher, Dr. Ramsey earned his PhD in musicology at the University of Michigan. Professor Ramsey went on to teach at Tufts and then became the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania. He has also been recognized as a Thurgood Marshall Dissertation Fellow at Dartmouth, a DuBois Institute Fellow at Harvard, and a recipient of the Irving Lowens Award for best article from the Society for American Music.

Dr. Ramsey’s 2003 book, Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop, was honored by the International Association for the Study of Popular Music as outstanding book of the year. In addition to Professor Ramsey’s scholarly work, his band, MusiQologY, a fusion of Jazz, R&B, Latin and Hip Hop, has played in venues ranging from Australia to popular Philadelphia concert halls.

But music alone does not send Dr. Ramsey across the country. Last year, Professor Ramsey co-curated a Smithsonian Institution exhibition called “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment” in Washington D.C. to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the historic Harlem Theater.

Dr. Ramsey has truly blessed the Philadelphia and Penn community with his music and scholarly knowledge. He is an exemplar of an intellectual whose genius allows us to watch Penn history in the making.

Maya Brandon, C’13

Houston A. Baker Jr. (1943- ) is a Black American literary critic, author, and professor. During the summer of 1966, Baker became an instructor at his alma mater, Howard University. Two years later, Baker received a teaching position in the Department of English at Yale. The next year, he was appointed to a four-year term as assistant professor in Yale. He left in 1970 to pursue an opportunity to be associate professor and member of the center for advanced studies at the University of Virginia becoming a professor there in 1973. Around this time, Baker, an expert in British Victorian literature, shifted his focus to African American literature and culture.

Houston Baker joined the University of Pennsylvania as a professor of English in 1974. He was also appointed as the first director of the Afro-American studies program which he held until 1977. After leaving Penn, Baker went on to teach at Duke and Vanderbilt. Additionally, he has served as president of the Modern Language Association of America and has written a myriad of articles, books, and essays concerning African American Literary Criticism and Theory.

Juna Dawson-Murray, C‘11

Marshall Mitchell is one of three current Black members of the University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees. Marshall is also the founder and principal of Different Drummer LLC. Before starting the company, he served as the Executive Vice President of Wilberforce University, the nation’s oldest, private historically-black college and university.  His tenure at the university focused on student growth and developing new research programs in foreign policy and nuclear and national security.  Marshall is the former chief of staff for US Representative Floyd Flake (D-NY).  Marshall co-authored New York State’s charter school law, opened the state’s first charter school, and eventually joined Edison Schools, Inc. at an executive level. He continued his work in education as CEO of the United Negro College Fund.  During his tenure, he created an analogous institution in South Africa.  He is an honors graduate of Howard University in Political Science and Philosophy and Union Theological Seminary in Church History.

(Source: http://www.differentdrummer.com)

Jeffrey Tillus, W’12

At Penn, this historical relationship is further investigated through the Alliance and Understanding (AU) program. AU, a collaboration between the Greenfield Intercultural Center, Hillel, and the African-American Resource Center, explores the partnership between Blacks and Jews during the 1960’s, i.e. the Civil Rights era. The program’s goals are to develop an understanding between the Black and the Jewish communities on Penn’s campus and to inform the wider campus on Black and Jewish issues and on this important partnership in American history.

Christopher Carter, W’11

Before the founding of W.E.B. Du Bois College House, another dormitory at the University of Pennsylvania had the highest concentration of black students—Van Pelt College House.  Named after former Penn Trustee David Van Pelt, Van Pelt College House was created as an experimental living system in the Fall of 1971.  During its first year, one hundred-sixty students, four faculty members, and eight graduate students inhabited this low-rise dormitory located on the 3900 block of Spruce Street.  Van Pelt’s first residents lived together, shared common meals together, and participated in cultural programs, seminars, and lectures.  Over the years, Van Pelt’s residential community-based system inspired similar programs at Hill, Stouffer, Harnwell, and Du Bois College Houses.

In selecting its residents, Van Pelt College House strived to select a diverse group of students.  Penn Alum and one of the founders of the ONYX Senior Honor Society, Craig Inge (C’75) lived in Van Pelt during his freshman year, and recalls having had black roommates, and several black hall mates.  The current Dean of Van Pelt College House, Dr. Christopher Donovan (C’92), describes Van Pelt as a refuge for marginalized people during one time or another.  According to Dr. Donovan, Van Pelt had the highest concentration of black students when black students felt overt racial discrimination in previous years, and high populations of other minority groups, such as LGBT people, in later periods.

Today, Van Pelt is known as Gregory College House Van Pelt Manor.  Although this college house currently has a lower concentration of black students than in previous years, Van Pelt Manor remains a welcoming college house for racial minorities and other groups of disfranchised people.

Nichole Nelson, C’11

During the late 1960s and early 1970s the number of Black undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania grew dramatically. These students influenced by Black Power, Black Nationalism and the Cultural Revolution had different backgrounds, ideas and interests than the affluent middle and upper class white students who constituted the majority of the undergraduate population. During this time, Black students successfully protested for the creation of several on-campus institutions as well as for improvements in the surrounding community.

For example, on April 29, 1968 members of the Society of African and Afro-American Students (SAAS) held a demonstration at 133 S. 36th Street where a branch of Girard Bank was located. SAAS charged the building owners with racial discrimination because there were no black employees. That morning, SAAS members carried placards and picketed in front of the building entrances. Their activism resulted in a meeting with the university’s president, Gaylord Harnwell, high officials of the administration, and the building owners. While the owners denied any personal knowledge of discrimination, they promised that 2 Black people would be hired to fill existing vacancies and that SAAS would be notified of any future job openings in the building. This demonstration was one of the very first recorded protests by Black students at Penn.

More recently, in 2004 Black students and faculty peacefully marched down Locust Walk to College Hall demanding to speak with President Amy Gutmann regarding a conflict between a Black Penn student and Penn police. The group, dressed in all black clothing expressed concern about racial profiling and the recent mistaken arrest of a Black student by Penn police. Students held signs reading, “Do I fit the description?” and “Students against racial profiling.” After 2 hours of an impressive, well-organized silent protest, three student representatives were allowed to meet with Gutmann, the Interim Provost and Chaplain William Gipson after which all parties seemed satisfied.

Marlowe Williams, C’11

Gloria Twine Chisum

Susan Taylor, MD became the second African American woman to join the University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees.  She is a leading dermatologist with extensive experience as a clinician, clinical researcher, pharmaceutical consultant and CEO of a small cosmetic company.   Dr. Taylor graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1979, magna cum laude, with a major in biology.  She then studied medicine at Harvard Medical School, graduating in 1983, and completed residencies at Pennsylvania Hospital and Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.  Dr. Taylor has gained over 20 years of valuable dermatology experience at Society Hill Dermatology in Philadelphia.  Additionally, Dr. Taylor established the Skin of Color Center at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York.  The center is the first of its kind in the country and strives to diagnose, treat, and investigate diseases in people of color, including individuals of African, Hispanic, and Asian descent.  Dr. Taylor regularly presents lectures to medical students and other dermatologists and has co-authored two major dermatology textbooks as well as two books for the general public.  At Penn, Dr. Taylor serves on the Board of Overseers of the Graduate School of Education, the WXPN Policy Board and is co-Chair of the James Brister Society. She is a member of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women and served on the organizing committee for the 125 Years of Women at Penn Celebration in 2001.

M. Claire Lomax, Esq. is the third African American woman to join the University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees.  Ms. Lomax graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984 and continued on to complete law school at Georgetown University Law Center.  She is admitted to practice law in both Pennsylvania and Maryland.  Ms. Lomax currently serves as the General Counsel of The Lomax Companies, a group of family owned companies in the Philadelphia area.  In her over 17 years of experience serving as General Counsel Ms. Lomax has worked in the a number of areas, including child welfare, health care management, labor & employment law, and corporate law.  She is the former president and CEO of Say Yes to Health, a non-profit organization that provided healthcare education to marginalized children in the Philadelphia.  At Penn, Ms. Lomax currently serves as a member of the Board of Overseers for the Penn’s School of Social Policy and Practice. She is Co-Chair of the James Brister Society and a member of the Trustees Council of Penn Women.

Sources:

Black Women Scientists in the United States by Wini Warren. Indiana University Press. 1999.

http://www.alumni.upenn.edu/multicultural/pennspectrum/timeline.html

http://www.societyhilldermatology.com/aboutDrTaylor.html

http://www.alumni.upenn.edu/pennalumni/lomax.html

Lauren McGlockton, C’11

Psi Chapter provides academic, social, and leadership activities for its members and the Black community at large. In the 1930s, brothers of Psi Chapter were integral in the formation of the Du Bois Scientific Club and Daniel Hale Williams Surgical Society – both at the University of Pennsylvania – to discuss timely, science-related subjects. Each year, Psi Chapter holds a signature formal event – the Pharaoh’s Ball – which incorporates a national program – Miss Black & Gold, a scholarship pageant – in addition to a host of community service endeavors, parties, and innovative programming meant to promulgate unity amongst Black students in Philadelphia.

The Psi Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. boasts upwards of 450 alumni that have made indelible impressions in business, academic, entertainment, law, education, and the ministry in its 91 years of existence. Notable alum include: Raymond Pace Alexander, the first African American graduate of the Wharton School; Willis Nelson Cummings, the first African-American to be elected to Omicron Kappa Upsilon, the national dental honor society, and the first African-American to captain a varsity team at the University of Pennsylvania and in the Ivy League or the Big Ten; and Marc Morial, former Mayor of New Orleans and Chief Executive Officer of the National Urban League.

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. is the first intercollegiate Black Greek-letter organization founded December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Under the aims of manly deeds, scholarship, and love for all mankind, we strive to develop leaders and promote brotherhood and academic excellence, while providing service and advocacy to our communities. Famous members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. include Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Olympian Jesse Owens, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young.

Victor Scotti, C’13