The Next President of Harvard Must Be A...

By W. F. Twyman, Jr.

“The next president of Harvard University MUST be a black woman.” — black commentator Marc Lamont Hill, January 3, 2024

Before I embark on this whimsical essay, a short word about Blackness and Oppression. Did you know a Black American can oppress another Black American? Tis’ true, my friends. I have been so informed by an oppressed victim. What happened, you might ask? (And here, I am not going for low-hanging fruit like black male professors Roland Fryer or Ronald Sullivan at Harvard. I’m going for something more…novel.)

Once upon a time in a mystical southern city, a black lawyer desired to create a family dynasty. I appreciate Black Americans who would emulate the Kennedys or the Adams, so the social imagination of the young lawyer had my interest. The black male attorney focused his romantic sights on the most eligible black woman in town. The young woman was dark-skinned, so attractive as to cause one pain/smile, and she lived amongst the local Black Elite. She called the most influential blacks in town uncle. Her family name, both paternal and maternal, was known throughout the land.

Our ambitious young man proposed marriage. Our southern belle accepted. A new family dynasty was within view.

Alas, our male suitor made a mistake. He was fully open about his desires for a family dynasty and couldn’t wait to have a bevy of princes and princesses to rule over the southern town. The raw and naked striving repulsed our legacy bride-to-be. As our striver became more and more excited about their future family together, the young woman became more and more unsettled. In her social circles, achievement and prominence were a given.

One should be understated about black achievement, in polite society. The young man was too eager to climb the ladder of prominence. On the eve of the wedding, our fair maiden stood up her fiancé.

But where is the Oppression of one Black American by another, you might ask? One sees the soap opera drama yet where is the intra group oppression?

The embarrassed black male suitor either was, or became, a judge! Oops. And our very attractive young lady was an attorney who had to appear before her cancelled fiancé on occasion. Awkward, as the young kids might say. The city is sizable but the number of black people in the know is not large. The number of black lawyers is even smaller. Everyone who mattered knew the sitting judge had been stood up for marriage.

And so he executed a campaign of revenge. When his former love (now happily married to a man who did not care about social status) appeared in court, the judge would never call his lost bride by her married name. He only referred to her by her maiden name. He was unpleasant and snarky. There are a 1,001 ways a judge can make a lawyer’s life miserable. The hurt judge applied as many ways as possible out of spite and revenge.

The judge, the black judge, oppressed his former lover, a prominent black lawyer, at every opportunity. And so we see oppression is no respecter of race.

(And I did not have to pull the Professors Fryer and Sullivan case studies to make my point/smile.)

On to our main attraction this morning….

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The next President of Harvard MUST be a…Black Man. I have so declared it.

Over 20 million Black women have proven inadept at the task of running the premier academic institution in the world.

It is time to return to the repository of genuine talent and ability in the world. I am talking about Black Men. The evidence is ample that Black men are the can do leaders in American History.

Did you know that Booker T. Washington (1856 - 1915), a former slave, created Tuskegee Institute from nothing into a powerhouse college? He was a power in America around 1900, dined with President Theodore Roosevelt, and single-handedly changed the direction of racial discourse with a single speech. Black Men excelled at running colleges straight out of slavery. And the man authored twelve books between 1899 and 1912. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington

No word processors, no computers — just raw drive, genius, discipline and focus.

Need more evidence that Harvard must have a Black male president?

The second most influential Black male in antebellum America was John Mercer Langston (1829 - 1897). Langston commanded respect and awe by all, blacks and whites. A graduate of Oberlin in 1849 and the first black to obtain a theology degree from Oberlin in 1852, Langston settled upon the law as a profession when a 1,001 voices all around Langston advised him not to seek the impossible. Black lawyers did not exist! Did not sway Langston. He had the independence of thought to focus on his goal and tell the larger larger world to pound sand in the year 1852. Such sense of self! Such presence of character! Langston was the first Black Male to apply to law school and, when he was rejected due to his race, he simply shifted gears and apprenticed under an open-minded white abolitionist judge.

Once admitted as the first black lawyer to the Ohio Bar in 1854, Langston won his first case within a month. A year’s time passed and he became very successful in his practice of law. It is fair to say he became the go to lawyer for his town, and all of his clients were white!

After the Civil War, Langston founded the law school at Howard and set into motion the training of innumerable pioneer black lawyers to practice in the South. Langston was appointed the first president of what is now known as Virginia State University in 1882. You can be dang sure everyone — faculty, students, board of trustees — knew Langston brought the highest of honor and esteem to Virginia State. And he wrote a book because, well, that is what accomplished intellectuals do. https://archive.org/details/fromvirginiapla00langgoog

Something about Black males.

Strong college presidents, memorable college presidents, are non-conformers. One need look no further in the roster of Black Men than John Hope (1868 - 1936). The son of a Scottish immigrant and a free woman of color in Augusta, Georgia, Hope appeared white but he chose to be Black. He refused the easy racial path in life. He went against the grain and lived independence of thought and identity. The ability to cast one’s lot with the oppressed in a racial nadir because of racial truth speaks volumes to moral integrity and courage. The Board unanimously chose Hope to be president of modern-day Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. The character of non-conformity, to live in truth during a nadir, must have manifested as presence on the campus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hope_(educator)

Black Men — a legacy of moral character and truth.

If you want further evidence of the compelling interest in choosing a Black Man to lead Harvard, we could close our case with the visionary leadership of Howard University President Mordecai Johnson (1890 - 1976). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordecai_Wyatt_Johnson Johnson was the son of former slaves but he perceived the coming of a better time. The Board of Trustees at Howard saw in the young Baptist preacher moral courage, steadfastness, and vision. All around the world outside of Howard was gloom, doom and despair in the 1920s. And yet this 36-year-old pastor with the Harvard divinity degree divined a pathway towards a stronger Howard, and America, free of Jim Crow by 1960. Such utter perception and vision in 1926!

Once again, the Black Man brings to the table the long game for elevation of the race.

Finally, there is another Black Man in our listing. Alonzo G. Moron (1909 - 1971) graduated from Harvard Law School in 1947. Appointed as the first black president of Hampton Institute on April 29, 1949, Moron displayed moral courage in a moral moment. After the successful Montgomery bus boycott, Rosa Parks was unable to find work anywhere. She was blacklisted. The blacklisting of a central Civil Rights figure troubled President Moron. No one recognized the moral moment or took action but President Moron did. He offered Parks a job as “hostess at the Holly Tree Inn dining hall which paid $300 a month.” https://www.encyclopedia.com/african-american-focus/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/moron-alonzo-g#:~:text=Alonzo%20Graseano%20Moron%20was%20the,trade%20school%20to%20a%20college.

Do you see a pattern? The Black Man is a repository for the best character in college presidents. The next president of Harvard MUST be a Black Man.

Conclusion: For those who missed the point, this essay is satire. Harvard must abandon reindeer games and choose the absolute best president during these troubled times. Otherwise, the Black Man is always available to help Harvard out/smile. Calling Kenneth Chenault…Calling Theodore V. Wells…