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The Last Negroes At Harvard: The Class of 1963 and the 18 Young Men Who Changed Harvard Forever – A Groundbreaking African American History of Integration, Affirmative Action, and Identity
The untold story of the Harvard class of ’63, whose Black students fought to create their own identities on the cusp between integration and affirmative action.In the fall of 1959, Harvard recruited an unprecedented eighteen “Negro” boys as an early form of affirmative action. Four years later they would graduate as African Americans. Some fifty years later, one of these trailblazing Harvard grads, Kent Garrett, would begin to reconnect with his classmates and explore their vastly different backgrounds, lives, and what their time at Harvard meant.
Garrett and his partner Jeanne Ellsworth recount how these eighteen youths broke new ground, with ramifications that extended far past the iconic Yard. By the time they were seniors, they would have demonstrated against national injustice and grappled with the racism of academia, had dinner with Malcolm X and fought alongside their African national classmates for the right to form a Black students’ organization.
Part memoir, part group portrait, and part narrative history of the intersection between the civil rights movement and higher education, this is the remarkable story of brilliant, singular boys whose identities were changed at and by Harvard, and who, in turn, changed Harvard.
Garrett and his partner Jeanne Ellsworth recount how these eighteen youths broke new ground, with ramifications that extended far past the iconic Yard. By the time they were seniors, they would have demonstrated against national injustice and grappled with the racism of academia, had dinner with Malcolm X and fought alongside their African national classmates for the right to form a Black students’ organization.
Part memoir, part group portrait, and part narrative history of the intersection between the civil rights movement and higher education, this is the remarkable story of brilliant, singular boys whose identities were changed at and by Harvard, and who, in turn, changed Harvard.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published February 11, 2020
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May 11, 2020
Champions of Change
In 1959, Harvard University recruited eighteen African American men to its undergraduate program as a symbolic gesture of affirmative action, a term that did not exist at that time. Author Kent Garrett, one of these kids recalls and recollects his experiences at the famous school and brings us into the same page; how it was like to be black at Harvard at that time. In fact, they were referred to as negroes but later would change the term to African Americans. This book is an autobiography and personal recollection when civil rights movement began to advance in the south and started to shake the conscious of people around the nation.
This is an outstanding story of bright young men who changed the course of history at Harvard University. This stirring memoir of love and resilience proves that there are no limits for living joyously despite the fact society treats you unequally. The author is a fierce advocate for equal opportunity, and his life-story is an inspiration to all young men. He renews hope and offers fresh strength. Author Garrett’s work offers insights to a journey only 5% of applicants get to experience. It unearths curiosities that will rock the Ivory Tower and change perceptions forever.
Muriel Sutherland Snowden, a black woman who graduated from Radcliffe in 1938 could not attend classes at Harvard, at that time women were barred from taking Harvard classes. Her experiences at Radcliffe was like the author Kent Garret at Harvard who apparently had a good life at the famous university. It is possible that Garrett might be cleverly hiding racist and other intolerable experiences on campus. Snowden admits that her background of growing up as a black child in a white community and attending all-white schools had made her assimilation at Radcliffe easier! Is that possible?
Activist Richard Theodor Greener was the first African American who graduated from Harvard in 1870. His admission was "an experiment" by the administration and paved the way for many more black graduates. The famous black activist and scholar W.E.B. Dubois earned his PhD from Harvard in 1890. The darkness in the legacy of Harvard, in terms of race relations, stretch as far as its 384 years of iconic history. The greatest university in the world sometimes dos does not live up to its reputation since the university was built partly on slave labor. In a recent message, dated Nov 21, 2019 from Harvard President Lawrence Bacow, a number of activities were planned to promote racial healing on the campus: memorials commemorating the lives and contributions of slaves were installed at Wadsworth House and Harvard Law School; a faculty committee initiated research on the university’s historical ties to slavery through work with the Harvard Archives and other university collections; conferences with peers from across higher education; and numerous classes, seminars, exhibitions, performances, and discussions took place across the university campus.
What exactly is goodness? Where is it found in the literary imagination? Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison pondered these perplexing questions in her Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University in 2012. She observed that it is commonly found in society and among black population that has responded to centuries of brutality with creativity.
In 1959, Harvard University recruited eighteen African American men to its undergraduate program as a symbolic gesture of affirmative action, a term that did not exist at that time. Author Kent Garrett, one of these kids recalls and recollects his experiences at the famous school and brings us into the same page; how it was like to be black at Harvard at that time. In fact, they were referred to as negroes but later would change the term to African Americans. This book is an autobiography and personal recollection when civil rights movement began to advance in the south and started to shake the conscious of people around the nation.
This is an outstanding story of bright young men who changed the course of history at Harvard University. This stirring memoir of love and resilience proves that there are no limits for living joyously despite the fact society treats you unequally. The author is a fierce advocate for equal opportunity, and his life-story is an inspiration to all young men. He renews hope and offers fresh strength. Author Garrett’s work offers insights to a journey only 5% of applicants get to experience. It unearths curiosities that will rock the Ivory Tower and change perceptions forever.
Muriel Sutherland Snowden, a black woman who graduated from Radcliffe in 1938 could not attend classes at Harvard, at that time women were barred from taking Harvard classes. Her experiences at Radcliffe was like the author Kent Garret at Harvard who apparently had a good life at the famous university. It is possible that Garrett might be cleverly hiding racist and other intolerable experiences on campus. Snowden admits that her background of growing up as a black child in a white community and attending all-white schools had made her assimilation at Radcliffe easier! Is that possible?
Activist Richard Theodor Greener was the first African American who graduated from Harvard in 1870. His admission was "an experiment" by the administration and paved the way for many more black graduates. The famous black activist and scholar W.E.B. Dubois earned his PhD from Harvard in 1890. The darkness in the legacy of Harvard, in terms of race relations, stretch as far as its 384 years of iconic history. The greatest university in the world sometimes dos does not live up to its reputation since the university was built partly on slave labor. In a recent message, dated Nov 21, 2019 from Harvard President Lawrence Bacow, a number of activities were planned to promote racial healing on the campus: memorials commemorating the lives and contributions of slaves were installed at Wadsworth House and Harvard Law School; a faculty committee initiated research on the university’s historical ties to slavery through work with the Harvard Archives and other university collections; conferences with peers from across higher education; and numerous classes, seminars, exhibitions, performances, and discussions took place across the university campus.
What exactly is goodness? Where is it found in the literary imagination? Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison pondered these perplexing questions in her Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard University in 2012. She observed that it is commonly found in society and among black population that has responded to centuries of brutality with creativity.
January 30, 2020
The Last Negroes at Harvard was an important book with a fascinating subject matter and a lot to say. It was part memoirs, part journalism, part dry-ish non-fiction, which is the only reason I didn't rate it higher.
The parts of The Last Negroes at Harvard that were memoir had the best literary style. They were emotive and involving, and really helped put me in the shoes of the authors; something that is essential for a subject matter that will be read by people from diverse backgrounds and levels of privilege. It was interesting to learn about the different experiences and origins of the class of 1963, but in the parts where Garret writes about the history of education, the book can get a little dry.
Overall, however, The Last Negroes at Harvard is well worth picking up, just for the personal stories, and its emphasis on the intersectionality of privilege.
The parts of The Last Negroes at Harvard that were memoir had the best literary style. They were emotive and involving, and really helped put me in the shoes of the authors; something that is essential for a subject matter that will be read by people from diverse backgrounds and levels of privilege. It was interesting to learn about the different experiences and origins of the class of 1963, but in the parts where Garret writes about the history of education, the book can get a little dry.
Overall, however, The Last Negroes at Harvard is well worth picking up, just for the personal stories, and its emphasis on the intersectionality of privilege.
January 30, 2020
This is a well-researched book: meticulously detailed and carefully investigated. No Stone was left unturned and every individual story was treated with the utmost respect.
That said, there was a LOT to wade through and far too much of the wading felt like a monumental task.
So many narratives. So many stories. So many different experiences. It’s any wonder it took near a decade to put this into publication: there was so much to do and Garrett essentially started from what amounts to a set of yearbook photos.
Having said that, this book reads like a really long, inadvertently dense, and painfully tedious journal article.
While it was interesting to read about the stories and experiences of the “last Negroes” at Harvard, Garrett took on the task of disseminating the stories of too many of his classmates.
The book shines the most when Garrett relays his experiences and his thoughts, on a personal level. When he tried to include more details about the other young men—even those who were no more than incidental to the eventual social changes that came to Harvard—it was tough to remain engaged.
As a result, the book was difficult to maintain an interest in and I was often tempted to skip ahead or skim the lengthier, often needlessly detailed, sections.
Overall, it’s a valuable resource, but I think I expected something different than this turned out to be and, as such, didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I hoped.
Thanks to Edelweiss+ for the advanced eGalley of this work. Opinion is my own.
That said, there was a LOT to wade through and far too much of the wading felt like a monumental task.
So many narratives. So many stories. So many different experiences. It’s any wonder it took near a decade to put this into publication: there was so much to do and Garrett essentially started from what amounts to a set of yearbook photos.
Having said that, this book reads like a really long, inadvertently dense, and painfully tedious journal article.
While it was interesting to read about the stories and experiences of the “last Negroes” at Harvard, Garrett took on the task of disseminating the stories of too many of his classmates.
The book shines the most when Garrett relays his experiences and his thoughts, on a personal level. When he tried to include more details about the other young men—even those who were no more than incidental to the eventual social changes that came to Harvard—it was tough to remain engaged.
As a result, the book was difficult to maintain an interest in and I was often tempted to skip ahead or skim the lengthier, often needlessly detailed, sections.
Overall, it’s a valuable resource, but I think I expected something different than this turned out to be and, as such, didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I hoped.
Thanks to Edelweiss+ for the advanced eGalley of this work. Opinion is my own.
February 28, 2020
This is a fascinating book; both insightful and frustrating, as good books often are. The story is framed as a journalistic memoir of Garrett and the other 17 black students who began at Harvard together in 1959. The book ends up being an engrossing account of many social and cultural realities of race in the U.S. in the 1960s as well as details about Harvard and Boston at large. It covers everything from racial politics, to a fortuitous lunch with Malcolm X, to Garrett's summer romance with an eventual victim of the famed Boston Strangler, to a legendary jazz record recorded by one of their classmates.
At points, Garrett relays the racial and social realities of the U.S., both then and now, with care, insight, and precision. The prose is clear and simple but also lively. Garrett and Ellsworth are good writers and the book never gets dull. With their many cultural references, I found myself regularly picking up my laptop to do further research on topics, ideas, people, and events. The people surveyed are interesting in their own rights, and the writers are properly measured in the amount of time they spend on each subject. The book is well written and organized.
There were, at times, moments when Garrett let his cynicism show (and one point in the epilogue when he admits to his cynicism outright), and this happens in such a way that it often left me questioning his ability to think through racial dynamics with enough objectivity to properly weigh his own racial philosophies. To be sure, none of us is truly objective. And, to be sure, I didn't live in the tumultuous 1960s. But, I'm a white man, married to a black woman, with mixed race children; we've lived in multiple countries, requiring me to think about the meaning of race, and of civil and social racial dynamics, on global and in philosophical terms, and I think a number of Garretts ideas regarding the concept and meaning of race as an identity-based or social reality can be challenged. The thing is, and I know this book is not a work of philosophy, Garrett writes as though race just "is" the way he says it is - that it works the way he assumes it does and can be thought of in quite the way that he thinks about it - and I think there are very good reasons to argue that his perspective on race, as a unifier/divider of people and as a principal element of identity, could and should be challenged. To hear Garrett tell it, black people all appear to think a certain way about race (which they don't), and white people can all be weighed and measured with unified predictability (he very offensively suggests this in the epilogue). In other words, I think Garrett's understanding of race carries much truth, but is far too simple - he thinks of these very base-line, simple groups called "black people" and "white people," and in my experience, individuals are far too nuanced to be grouped in such ways. In my experience, society likes to stick us in these groups, and treat us based on these groups, but that doesn't mean that categories such as "black people" and "white people" are helpful, or accurate, or that, on an emotional and intellectual level, such groups even properly exist. Biologically we know that they don't. It simply won't do to talk about "black people" and "white people" as though the people we force into those subsets can be grouped that way, or as though the things we say about people forced into those subsets are ever fair or accurate. A lot of Garrett's analysis is based on the assumptions that these groups exist and that meaningful generalizations can be made about them. I don't think that's valid.
All that aside, in terms of larger social experiences and realities, I was engrossed by Garrett's account and I found his thoughts to be insightful. This was a fascinating book, full of cultural insights into race relations from an angle, being academic, that is often missing from such discussions.
At points, Garrett relays the racial and social realities of the U.S., both then and now, with care, insight, and precision. The prose is clear and simple but also lively. Garrett and Ellsworth are good writers and the book never gets dull. With their many cultural references, I found myself regularly picking up my laptop to do further research on topics, ideas, people, and events. The people surveyed are interesting in their own rights, and the writers are properly measured in the amount of time they spend on each subject. The book is well written and organized.
There were, at times, moments when Garrett let his cynicism show (and one point in the epilogue when he admits to his cynicism outright), and this happens in such a way that it often left me questioning his ability to think through racial dynamics with enough objectivity to properly weigh his own racial philosophies. To be sure, none of us is truly objective. And, to be sure, I didn't live in the tumultuous 1960s. But, I'm a white man, married to a black woman, with mixed race children; we've lived in multiple countries, requiring me to think about the meaning of race, and of civil and social racial dynamics, on global and in philosophical terms, and I think a number of Garretts ideas regarding the concept and meaning of race as an identity-based or social reality can be challenged. The thing is, and I know this book is not a work of philosophy, Garrett writes as though race just "is" the way he says it is - that it works the way he assumes it does and can be thought of in quite the way that he thinks about it - and I think there are very good reasons to argue that his perspective on race, as a unifier/divider of people and as a principal element of identity, could and should be challenged. To hear Garrett tell it, black people all appear to think a certain way about race (which they don't), and white people can all be weighed and measured with unified predictability (he very offensively suggests this in the epilogue). In other words, I think Garrett's understanding of race carries much truth, but is far too simple - he thinks of these very base-line, simple groups called "black people" and "white people," and in my experience, individuals are far too nuanced to be grouped in such ways. In my experience, society likes to stick us in these groups, and treat us based on these groups, but that doesn't mean that categories such as "black people" and "white people" are helpful, or accurate, or that, on an emotional and intellectual level, such groups even properly exist. Biologically we know that they don't. It simply won't do to talk about "black people" and "white people" as though the people we force into those subsets can be grouped that way, or as though the things we say about people forced into those subsets are ever fair or accurate. A lot of Garrett's analysis is based on the assumptions that these groups exist and that meaningful generalizations can be made about them. I don't think that's valid.
All that aside, in terms of larger social experiences and realities, I was engrossed by Garrett's account and I found his thoughts to be insightful. This was a fascinating book, full of cultural insights into race relations from an angle, being academic, that is often missing from such discussions.
January 9, 2020
In 1959, eighteen "Negroes," entered the Harvard College class of 1963. When they left, they would be "Afro Americans" or "African Americans." Kent Garrett was one of that class and he spent a decade tracking down his classmates to see what they had done, how Harvard had affected them, and how they had changed Harvard. It's a thoughtful slice of history, made personal by many memories as the old classmates remind each other of those days before Kennedy was assassinated, before the Civil Rights Movement had reached peak momentum.
March 9, 2021
I do not generally like memoirs, but this had a perfect balance of a life-story with a more broad view of the topic at hand. Easy to read and definitely thought-provoking. Absolutely recommend it to anyone even considering reading it.
March 31, 2022
This was a nice look into the Harvard class of 1963. I enjoyed learning about the different backgrounds and perspectives of the black members of the class.
August 5, 2020
This book feels like a slow burn, like when you slowly clean your room to serendipitously discover some hidden treasures of decade’s past to spend the day daydreaming and laughing about. The author and subject of the book, Kent Garret, has a tongue in cheek attitude that counters his old age. The recounting of his unique experience as a Black man at Harvard in the 1960s was surprisingly refreshing and relevant to today’s age. The book remembers how the Harvard Class of 1963 explores their identity and how it’s shaped by each other and the 1960s Civil Rights movement, and less so by explicit bigotry and/or racist violence. The story is not about the ins and outs of Harvard, but more so about finding and creating Black identity in a historically white space. It felt almost nostalgic following along with the audiobook and “growing old” with the narrator as the story progressed from the class’s freshmen year well into old age.
I downloaded the book from my local library, and it was a great listen. All of the names were difficult to keep up with initially, but it became less of a problem as the book progressed. At times I felt it was a bit too long, but it was worth it in the end.
I downloaded the book from my local library, and it was a great listen. All of the names were difficult to keep up with initially, but it became less of a problem as the book progressed. At times I felt it was a bit too long, but it was worth it in the end.
March 3, 2023
My rating of “4” for this book is based primarily on the fact that I learned SO MUCH from it about a sort of voluntary “affirmative action”-type program undertaken in the early 1960s at the highest level of Ivy League education. For me, the Gallery section at the end, which covers the post-Harvard lives and contributions of the 18 young black men involved, proves the value of the idea. Also, since I was in college at the same time at one of the Seven Sisters, much of the contextual, environmental, newsy narrative was familiar and nostalgic. Reading most of this during Black History month, I filled in gaps that I never knew I had.
April 17, 2020
It was at Harvard—in a first-semester graduate history seminar taught by Bernard Bailyn—that I learned the word prosopography. Since then, I've been attracted to group portraits, and this one—about Kent Garrett and his undergraduate classmates—fascinated me.
May 4, 2023
Fascinating and informative survey of the young Black men who went to Harvard at the dawn of the 1960s civil rights era.
September 22, 2023
As a child of the 1970s with three kids who are very socially aware, I often struggle to explain how things used to be. One of the hardest aspects of my childhood that I can't seem to convey is the casual racism that was embedded in our society when I was growing up. I'm not saying that everyone I knew was acting like an active KKK member . . . it was more along the lines of white people generally had few qualms about making public statements of retrograde racist attitudes that would get you ostracized today, at the very least.
In other words, Mel Brooks was spot-on with "Blazing Saddles."
With "The Last Negroes at Harvard," I have a tool that helps explain what life was like not so long ago (and shortly before I was born). This book - told in a more or less autobiographical fashion - tells the story of the first class of black men who attended Harvard, starting in 1963.
In many respects, one suspects that if you were watching this story unfold from the outside at the time, you'd consider it reasonably successful, considering a) how ingrained institutional racism was in the Ivy League at the time, and b) how horribly school integration worked in other parts of the country. The book also conveys that Cambridge in 1963 was a rather genteel place, and Harvard students were quite often a welcoming group, even if prone to the occasional stupid comment.
This is a civilization removed from the experience in Alabama, also in 1963, where Governor George Wallace "stood in the schoolhouse door," defying integration with every fiber in his being and finding many agreeing with him.
This autobiography is so measured, so thoughtful in its approach, it is a pleasure to read. While obviously aware of the larger picture, the storytellers in this book also recall what it was like to be a young adult at the time, often living away from home for the first time, and also flush with the opportunities that Harvard presented. America at this time was just about to enter the tumult of the late 1960s as America seemed to tear itself apart . . . 1963 is when the chess pieces began to move into place for those colossal fights.
Highly recommended, particularly for those looking to see how daily life was led not so long ago.
In other words, Mel Brooks was spot-on with "Blazing Saddles."
With "The Last Negroes at Harvard," I have a tool that helps explain what life was like not so long ago (and shortly before I was born). This book - told in a more or less autobiographical fashion - tells the story of the first class of black men who attended Harvard, starting in 1963.
In many respects, one suspects that if you were watching this story unfold from the outside at the time, you'd consider it reasonably successful, considering a) how ingrained institutional racism was in the Ivy League at the time, and b) how horribly school integration worked in other parts of the country. The book also conveys that Cambridge in 1963 was a rather genteel place, and Harvard students were quite often a welcoming group, even if prone to the occasional stupid comment.
This is a civilization removed from the experience in Alabama, also in 1963, where Governor George Wallace "stood in the schoolhouse door," defying integration with every fiber in his being and finding many agreeing with him.
This autobiography is so measured, so thoughtful in its approach, it is a pleasure to read. While obviously aware of the larger picture, the storytellers in this book also recall what it was like to be a young adult at the time, often living away from home for the first time, and also flush with the opportunities that Harvard presented. America at this time was just about to enter the tumult of the late 1960s as America seemed to tear itself apart . . . 1963 is when the chess pieces began to move into place for those colossal fights.
Highly recommended, particularly for those looking to see how daily life was led not so long ago.
April 25, 2023
I was attracted to this book by its title. To my dismay, the title is misleading. In my opinion the book really focuses on two different topics: 1) the emergence of the focus on Black history and culture that were rooted in Brown vs. The Board of Education that began to bear fruit in the 1960s, and 2) the lives of 18 men who attended Harvard when the changes were initially introduced. I found both topics interesting, but I do not believe that Garrett knits them together in a seamless manner.
What Garrett seems to me to be trying to convey is that increased Black enrollment and the national civil rights movement dovetailed to change Harvard from the early ‘60s on. Affirmative action played a big role in boosting the number of Blacks at Harvard from an average of six a year to an unprecedented 18 in the class of 1963. While still a low percentage of the student body, the presence of more Black students, along with the rising influence of the civil rights movement, made race a more visible issue at Harvard for the Class of 1963 and its successors than it had been before. Like other universities in the USA (such as my alma mater, Northwestern University), Harvard culture and academics has since the 1960s been more attentive to Afro American and African history and culture. The members of the Harvard Class of 1963 (and young people like them worldwide) never overtly rejected the Negro designation. Rather, like other Negro university students nationwide, they began to realize that there was a more accurate way to describe themselves and their identity, African and Afro-American. At Harvard, the Class of 1963 left a legacy of African and Afro American Society, originally AAAAS and later just “Afro.” The group it started would grow in numbers and strength, make demands, and even threaten violence in order to get a significant Black presence on campus, more Black administration and faculty, a Black studies program, a dramatic increase in Black enrollment, and the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research.
As someone White who is close in age to Garrett, I gained from this book an enhanced understanding of Afro-Americans' desire to affirm Black history and culture . Garrett’s explanations of differences in Black peoples’ approach to dealing with their racial history and their place in American society —essentially a continuum from not making waves to supporting Black separatism--was explored, explained, and demonstrated throughout the book. I learned from this book a great deal about why Black history and culture are such important topics for all of us who live in a multicultural nation. Americans--and especially we who were ignorant about the existence and nature of African and Afro-American culture-- now are fortunate enough to reap the reward of expanding our nation’s consciousness about these topics.
Garrett--a communication professional who was a student in Harvard's Class of 1963--presents the biographies of himself and his 17 fellow Black students. These stories are intriguing studies of the diverse personalities, life experiences, and interests of the people who comprised this peer group. He spent many years tracking the 17 others down in a worldwide search, an activity that obviously was an act of love and respect. Their backgrounds, accomplishments, and views on race are varied and interesting. All but one--an artistic genius who excelled academically but decided to quit college to immerse himself in what turned out to be a remarkable musical career--graduated. The vignettes about these men at the end of the book are very interesting. However, they duplicate the information given in the text and are a much more compelling presentation of the evidence of these men's success than is the historic narrative about the same facts presented in the body of the book.
I believe a good editor could make this book shine. The information presented in the book would be more effectively presented with a change in title and organization to underscore the focus of the thesis. Eliminating redundancies would make the book more enjoyable to read.
What Garrett seems to me to be trying to convey is that increased Black enrollment and the national civil rights movement dovetailed to change Harvard from the early ‘60s on. Affirmative action played a big role in boosting the number of Blacks at Harvard from an average of six a year to an unprecedented 18 in the class of 1963. While still a low percentage of the student body, the presence of more Black students, along with the rising influence of the civil rights movement, made race a more visible issue at Harvard for the Class of 1963 and its successors than it had been before. Like other universities in the USA (such as my alma mater, Northwestern University), Harvard culture and academics has since the 1960s been more attentive to Afro American and African history and culture. The members of the Harvard Class of 1963 (and young people like them worldwide) never overtly rejected the Negro designation. Rather, like other Negro university students nationwide, they began to realize that there was a more accurate way to describe themselves and their identity, African and Afro-American. At Harvard, the Class of 1963 left a legacy of African and Afro American Society, originally AAAAS and later just “Afro.” The group it started would grow in numbers and strength, make demands, and even threaten violence in order to get a significant Black presence on campus, more Black administration and faculty, a Black studies program, a dramatic increase in Black enrollment, and the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research.
As someone White who is close in age to Garrett, I gained from this book an enhanced understanding of Afro-Americans' desire to affirm Black history and culture . Garrett’s explanations of differences in Black peoples’ approach to dealing with their racial history and their place in American society —essentially a continuum from not making waves to supporting Black separatism--was explored, explained, and demonstrated throughout the book. I learned from this book a great deal about why Black history and culture are such important topics for all of us who live in a multicultural nation. Americans--and especially we who were ignorant about the existence and nature of African and Afro-American culture-- now are fortunate enough to reap the reward of expanding our nation’s consciousness about these topics.
Garrett--a communication professional who was a student in Harvard's Class of 1963--presents the biographies of himself and his 17 fellow Black students. These stories are intriguing studies of the diverse personalities, life experiences, and interests of the people who comprised this peer group. He spent many years tracking the 17 others down in a worldwide search, an activity that obviously was an act of love and respect. Their backgrounds, accomplishments, and views on race are varied and interesting. All but one--an artistic genius who excelled academically but decided to quit college to immerse himself in what turned out to be a remarkable musical career--graduated. The vignettes about these men at the end of the book are very interesting. However, they duplicate the information given in the text and are a much more compelling presentation of the evidence of these men's success than is the historic narrative about the same facts presented in the body of the book.
I believe a good editor could make this book shine. The information presented in the book would be more effectively presented with a change in title and organization to underscore the focus of the thesis. Eliminating redundancies would make the book more enjoyable to read.
June 16, 2020
The Last Negros at Harvard is an intriguing memoir that follows the lives of eighteen African Americans (all men) from the class of 1963 at Harvard. The author is one of these eighteen.
These unique individuals are selected to attend Harvard from a variety of backgrounds in what can only be viewed as the early days of affirmative action. The young men face the uncomfortable challenge of managing their presence in an elite majority-white institution while surrounded by a web of institutional racism. Integration, civil rights, lunch counter protests, and the rise of Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam all make for a fascinating backdrop to the personal stories.
This group of students went on to create the Harvard African American Society, which helped to transform and rename Negroes as African American (hence the “Last Negroes” in the title).
The book provides some interesting tidbits:
- Until the late 1800s, each student at Harvard was given a personal Negro servant.
- Negroes were barred from Harvard dorms until the 1920s
- Harvard had a branch of the KKK.
- In 1952 a couple of freshman had burned a cross on the lawn of a dorm that housed Negro students and the administration let them go after deciding it was only a prank.
- In a 1958 poll, about 96% of Americans disapproved of interracial marriage. Many integrated colleges had policies against interracial dating and students would be reprimanded and their parents informed.
- Harvard’s most famous Black alumnus WEB Du Bois earned his undergraduate degree in 1890 and five years later became the first Black to earn a Harvard PhD.
Like many of its genre, this book highlights the clear contradiction in an America founded on equality while systematically oppressing African Americans.
Overall, the book was interesting with respect to the setting (Harvard) and the times (integration). However, the characters were not as well developed and the story telling seems rushed and somewhat flat in the second half of the book.
The book gets three stars.
These unique individuals are selected to attend Harvard from a variety of backgrounds in what can only be viewed as the early days of affirmative action. The young men face the uncomfortable challenge of managing their presence in an elite majority-white institution while surrounded by a web of institutional racism. Integration, civil rights, lunch counter protests, and the rise of Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam all make for a fascinating backdrop to the personal stories.
This group of students went on to create the Harvard African American Society, which helped to transform and rename Negroes as African American (hence the “Last Negroes” in the title).
The book provides some interesting tidbits:
- Until the late 1800s, each student at Harvard was given a personal Negro servant.
- Negroes were barred from Harvard dorms until the 1920s
- Harvard had a branch of the KKK.
- In 1952 a couple of freshman had burned a cross on the lawn of a dorm that housed Negro students and the administration let them go after deciding it was only a prank.
- In a 1958 poll, about 96% of Americans disapproved of interracial marriage. Many integrated colleges had policies against interracial dating and students would be reprimanded and their parents informed.
- Harvard’s most famous Black alumnus WEB Du Bois earned his undergraduate degree in 1890 and five years later became the first Black to earn a Harvard PhD.
Like many of its genre, this book highlights the clear contradiction in an America founded on equality while systematically oppressing African Americans.
Overall, the book was interesting with respect to the setting (Harvard) and the times (integration). However, the characters were not as well developed and the story telling seems rushed and somewhat flat in the second half of the book.
The book gets three stars.
July 19, 2020
The Last N* at Harvard is an incredibly rich, inspiring, and informative chronicle of the lives and accomplishments of 18 black students that not only broke boundaries, but also helped to pave the way for future pioneers.
Following the narration and lens of Kent Garrett, this novel breaks through the deeply buried and complexly woven secrets of the notorious Ivy League school, all while maintaining a deep sense of humanity and wisdom taught in a way that only an elderly trailblazer could provide.
While reading this book, i was amazed at just how much Black history is invisible to me each and everyday of my life. As a white reader, the writings of Garrett highlighted aspects of American history that i have either never been taught, or as an extension of my privilege, denied the impact of entirely.
While obviously an essay and reflection on the aspects of racism that still corrupts the deepest motivations and mechanization of the education system, it also brings light to the wealth and status ruled hierarchy of Harvard, and the lofty and holier than thou mindset that kept minority and low income students bared from the campus gates for decades.
The only downside to this novel is that the structuring is designed in a way that makes it very easy to forgot who is who, and it often doubles backs and finds itself convoluted and confusing at times, these moments are fleeting however and Kent's storytelling makes up for any complication with little friction.
Whether you're looking for your next non fiction, or looking to educate yourself on topics of race that as whites we so often find ourselves avoiding, The Last N* at Harvard is a wonderful fit for your next read.
Following the narration and lens of Kent Garrett, this novel breaks through the deeply buried and complexly woven secrets of the notorious Ivy League school, all while maintaining a deep sense of humanity and wisdom taught in a way that only an elderly trailblazer could provide.
While reading this book, i was amazed at just how much Black history is invisible to me each and everyday of my life. As a white reader, the writings of Garrett highlighted aspects of American history that i have either never been taught, or as an extension of my privilege, denied the impact of entirely.
While obviously an essay and reflection on the aspects of racism that still corrupts the deepest motivations and mechanization of the education system, it also brings light to the wealth and status ruled hierarchy of Harvard, and the lofty and holier than thou mindset that kept minority and low income students bared from the campus gates for decades.
The only downside to this novel is that the structuring is designed in a way that makes it very easy to forgot who is who, and it often doubles backs and finds itself convoluted and confusing at times, these moments are fleeting however and Kent's storytelling makes up for any complication with little friction.
Whether you're looking for your next non fiction, or looking to educate yourself on topics of race that as whites we so often find ourselves avoiding, The Last N* at Harvard is a wonderful fit for your next read.
September 19, 2021
I'm not sure what Kent Garrett wanted to accomplish when writing "The Last Negroes at Harvard". His story is unique, yes, and perhaps, book-worthy. However, I found the book only mildly interesting and incomplete.
Garrett writes about his story, and the story of his college friends, a group of 18 young black men who were accepted at Harvard University in the Fall of 1959. The tone of the book is one in which you are visiting your Grandfather one day, and you ask him what his college years are like. He focuses on his friendships, how they fit into the Harvard culture, and the alumni years. Did they change Harvard forever? I guess you could make an argument for it, but I'm not convinced they did. Their academics were, for the most part, average, and they passed the days talking about what most college guys talk about....college girls.
I felt that there was a lot that Garrett left out of the story, including some of the historical context of the time. During his college years, Garrett says that he was oblivious to a number of social factors, and with hindsight, he says there is a lot he doesn't remember. Some of the stories he tells in the book, are ones he heard from friends, but took no part in. I would have also liked to hear more about black attendance at Harvard, from a numbers perspective, instead of just his and his friends recollection from fifty years distance.
The book left me wanting more, and for that, I felt the book was just okay.
Garrett writes about his story, and the story of his college friends, a group of 18 young black men who were accepted at Harvard University in the Fall of 1959. The tone of the book is one in which you are visiting your Grandfather one day, and you ask him what his college years are like. He focuses on his friendships, how they fit into the Harvard culture, and the alumni years. Did they change Harvard forever? I guess you could make an argument for it, but I'm not convinced they did. Their academics were, for the most part, average, and they passed the days talking about what most college guys talk about....college girls.
I felt that there was a lot that Garrett left out of the story, including some of the historical context of the time. During his college years, Garrett says that he was oblivious to a number of social factors, and with hindsight, he says there is a lot he doesn't remember. Some of the stories he tells in the book, are ones he heard from friends, but took no part in. I would have also liked to hear more about black attendance at Harvard, from a numbers perspective, instead of just his and his friends recollection from fifty years distance.
The book left me wanting more, and for that, I felt the book was just okay.
March 3, 2023
The "18 Negro men" of the Harvard class of 1963 have their diverse stories told in a lovely and poignant way. This is the time frame shortly after my father was in service in Washington DC and playing with a mixed race jazz combo in his spare time. As a white man from a small northeasten Ohio town, the Air Force was his first introduction to really getting to know men of color. I was 4 years old in 1959 and it was about that time that he and my mother started making sure I knew what it was like to be Black/Negro in America. Stories of the guys in the band having to get in the back seat of the car before they crossed into Virginia, or the time they played for a college dance where the band and their wives/ girlfriends were treated to dinner in the dining hall before the dance and my mother discovered they wouldn't seat the Black men who were having dinner in the kitchen. (My mother took her plate and went up eat with them.)
With that as background, I found these stories fascinating as the men navigated the very progressively appearing Harvard experience while still knowing there were doors closed to them even as Harvard Men. These men were bright, intelligent, and seen as "the exceptional Negro", and yet in so many ways they were very so very ordinary, just wanting to graduate, find a satisfying career, maybe settle down and raise a family. None of them aspired to great wealth, but most of them were enriched by the Harvard experience.
With that as background, I found these stories fascinating as the men navigated the very progressively appearing Harvard experience while still knowing there were doors closed to them even as Harvard Men. These men were bright, intelligent, and seen as "the exceptional Negro", and yet in so many ways they were very so very ordinary, just wanting to graduate, find a satisfying career, maybe settle down and raise a family. None of them aspired to great wealth, but most of them were enriched by the Harvard experience.
August 6, 2020
It seems a difficult task to write a book about eighteen different people, joined only by their color and attendance at Harvard.
The book pulls it off successfully but it seems a little uneven. First, many of these people were extremely interesting in their own right and the few lines about them only makes you want more. Second, the book was written about forty years after the events and except for a contemporaneous survey with notes by a white classmate, no one seemed to be keeping a journal to record their feeling and thoughts. That said, the book would be interesting just for Mr Garrett's insights into what he thought at the beginning, during and forty years later. The evolution of his thinking about America and race was, for me, the most interesting parts of the book.
At the end, it was clear to me that the expression "walking a mile in someone else's shoes" si nonsense because Mr Garrett's walk changes from high school, to Harvard and especially afterwards, and it seems you would need to know all the early miles to understand where he is walking in 2019.
Apropos of nothing, a recent TED talk by a transgendered women explains that (and how) being a woman is a different world from being a man... and I'm sure that being a Black man in a America will never be something I can understand, no matter how many books I read.
The book pulls it off successfully but it seems a little uneven. First, many of these people were extremely interesting in their own right and the few lines about them only makes you want more. Second, the book was written about forty years after the events and except for a contemporaneous survey with notes by a white classmate, no one seemed to be keeping a journal to record their feeling and thoughts. That said, the book would be interesting just for Mr Garrett's insights into what he thought at the beginning, during and forty years later. The evolution of his thinking about America and race was, for me, the most interesting parts of the book.
At the end, it was clear to me that the expression "walking a mile in someone else's shoes" si nonsense because Mr Garrett's walk changes from high school, to Harvard and especially afterwards, and it seems you would need to know all the early miles to understand where he is walking in 2019.
Apropos of nothing, a recent TED talk by a transgendered women explains that (and how) being a woman is a different world from being a man... and I'm sure that being a Black man in a America will never be something I can understand, no matter how many books I read.
February 25, 2025
I enjoyed listening to this book and hearing about these young men of color who were truly a minority at the Harvard of their time. ( If Agent Orange has his way with DEI and WOKE, there may again only be 18 Negroes at Harvard.) I am 6 years younger than Mr. Garrett but I grew up watching and hearing Martin Luther King, Malcom X, and others as they tried to establish a "more perfect union". I remember seeing the fire hoses and attack dogs turned upon marchers and knowing about the integration of schools. After the assassination of Kennedy, Johnson was able to get the civil rights legislation passed. I was pleased to know that Fred taught at Carleton College in Northfield, MN and was active in civil rights here in Minneapolis. ( I attended and taught at that college accross the river, St. Olaf. ) I do not believe that these 18 young men "changed Harvard forever". Largely they behaved like college students of the 1960's. Sometimes studying diligently, sometimes not so much. They learned from activists. The times were changing and Universities and Colleges were willing or forced to become less racist, xenophobic and misogynistic. I believe the book was a loving tribute to the Negro ( it is hard to write that word ) Harvard class of 1963. Kristi & Abby Tabby Childless Cat Lady
April 4, 2020
I really enjoyed this book throughout although given its length the content covered was quite ambitious which left me wanting for more.
The book starts talking about going to find out others from the same class who graduated and we find out over time that was done but very little of the space is given talking about the years after Harvard. I think I would have enjoyed it most to spend time covering the years at Harvard with the prevailing currents covered(as was done) with more time spent after checking in with each person on what that time meant for them in the rest of their life since they’re so many decades removed. As you’d imagine the paths each man went down were quite different and would be well worth learning about.
Some of the best parts of the book were the more personal anecdotes which really allowed you to better get in his head at the time along with his classmates. This is when it seemed the author was most engaged, understandably, and left the biggest impression. Overall, though, I did enjoy the read all the way through.
The book starts talking about going to find out others from the same class who graduated and we find out over time that was done but very little of the space is given talking about the years after Harvard. I think I would have enjoyed it most to spend time covering the years at Harvard with the prevailing currents covered(as was done) with more time spent after checking in with each person on what that time meant for them in the rest of their life since they’re so many decades removed. As you’d imagine the paths each man went down were quite different and would be well worth learning about.
Some of the best parts of the book were the more personal anecdotes which really allowed you to better get in his head at the time along with his classmates. This is when it seemed the author was most engaged, understandably, and left the biggest impression. Overall, though, I did enjoy the read all the way through.
June 3, 2020
The author and his companion worked so hard and s o long on this book I feel bad that I didn’t find it inspiring or even terribly interesting. When tracing so many young men it takes a lot to keep them separate for the reader. Garrett’s descriptions of his family’s migration from the south to New York City and the indignities his parents suffered, their determination to educate their children well, and the trip to Harvard kept me reading even though there were no great surprises. Once Garrett settled in and mingled with other freshmen, black and white, the emotion seemed to drain from the story as he assembled his mental notes and rattled off lots of facts but not much passion. I would have been much interested in a few descriptions of his classes, frustrations, triumphs and failures but he constructed a wall. I don’t know if this is a lack of talent, an obsession with getting all the facts or a fear of letting people see the real you but it keeps the reader from developing an emotional connection.
March 9, 2023
Extraordinary!
Jeanne Ellsworth and Kent Garrett have written a powerful and profoundly affecting memoir of Garrett’s experience as one of the 18 Black members of Harvard’s Class of 1963.
The 18 young men depicted are smart, vulnerable and heart-achingly young. Although many at Harvard considered them only as representatives of their race, they emerge in Garrett’s retelling as distinct individuals doing their best to navigate an unfamiliar environment while dealing with the racial and social currents that defined the early 1960s.
Last Negroes at Harvard is not only a history. The issues that emerged for Garrett and his classmates (integration versus Black separatism, sharply divided opinions on the merit of affirmative action programs, disparate treatment of minorities versus White elites) still roil contemporary American life.
This sensitive memoir provides a fresh backdrop against which to view race in America. Five stars are not fully adequate to convey the value of this non-fiction masterpiece.
Jeanne Ellsworth and Kent Garrett have written a powerful and profoundly affecting memoir of Garrett’s experience as one of the 18 Black members of Harvard’s Class of 1963.
The 18 young men depicted are smart, vulnerable and heart-achingly young. Although many at Harvard considered them only as representatives of their race, they emerge in Garrett’s retelling as distinct individuals doing their best to navigate an unfamiliar environment while dealing with the racial and social currents that defined the early 1960s.
Last Negroes at Harvard is not only a history. The issues that emerged for Garrett and his classmates (integration versus Black separatism, sharply divided opinions on the merit of affirmative action programs, disparate treatment of minorities versus White elites) still roil contemporary American life.
This sensitive memoir provides a fresh backdrop against which to view race in America. Five stars are not fully adequate to convey the value of this non-fiction masterpiece.
May 11, 2024
I enjoyed and was enlightened by Kent Garrett’s memoir/ account of the years he spent as a black student in Harvard, and the stories he spent a decade collecting from the other “ negro” students in Harvard’s class of 1963.
The author writes that this was a joint effort with his wife, but her voice doesn’t come through in the story.
Garrett recalls the different emotions he felt during his four years of study, his awakening black identity, the connection to Africa and the attempts of the negro students to form an Afro- American society and how they were initially rebuffed by Harvard’s authorities on the grounds of” reverse discrimination “. His year’s group of black students eventually laid the groundwork for the following year’s students to reap the benefits.
He and his fellow students were around at the beginning of the Civil rights struggle, the fight for integration in the southern states,and the violence that accompanied it. In Harvard, the discrimination was more genteel, of a social nature, and Garrett’s account leads to a more nuanced understanding of those times.
The author writes that this was a joint effort with his wife, but her voice doesn’t come through in the story.
Garrett recalls the different emotions he felt during his four years of study, his awakening black identity, the connection to Africa and the attempts of the negro students to form an Afro- American society and how they were initially rebuffed by Harvard’s authorities on the grounds of” reverse discrimination “. His year’s group of black students eventually laid the groundwork for the following year’s students to reap the benefits.
He and his fellow students were around at the beginning of the Civil rights struggle, the fight for integration in the southern states,and the violence that accompanied it. In Harvard, the discrimination was more genteel, of a social nature, and Garrett’s account leads to a more nuanced understanding of those times.
July 12, 2020
3.5 stars
This was so interesting in so many different ways. Part personal memoir about author while he was at Harvard and after, as well as his fellow ‘Negro’ classmates. The issue for me wasn't the subject matter, it was the organization. The memoir became bogged down by all the author's classmates, both Black and White. It made for some dense reading. The book would have been more readable if each Black classmate, had his own section instead of interspersed throughout the narrative. There were areas that shone: the social norms at the time as well as the beginning of the civil rights movement and in hindsight, pivotal moments in history. What was especially poignant was the end, where the author gave a brief summary of each of these classmates. And the author himself, without realizing it, is also living history, not only through his many accomplishments, but his place at Harvard at that time.
This was so interesting in so many different ways. Part personal memoir about author while he was at Harvard and after, as well as his fellow ‘Negro’ classmates. The issue for me wasn't the subject matter, it was the organization. The memoir became bogged down by all the author's classmates, both Black and White. It made for some dense reading. The book would have been more readable if each Black classmate, had his own section instead of interspersed throughout the narrative. There were areas that shone: the social norms at the time as well as the beginning of the civil rights movement and in hindsight, pivotal moments in history. What was especially poignant was the end, where the author gave a brief summary of each of these classmates. And the author himself, without realizing it, is also living history, not only through his many accomplishments, but his place at Harvard at that time.
October 31, 2020
Kent Garrett entered Harvard in 1959 as one of the eighteen African-American members of the Class of 1963. He tells the stories of different members of this group, describing how they navigated Harvard and interfaced with the broader world as the Civil Rights Movement came into their and Americans' consciousness. I found it a really interesting look at Garrett, the men in his class, and the depiction of Harvard as an institution in the 60s.
This book may well have appealed to me more than it might generally appear to everyone. The portions of the book mainly focusing on Harvard history were really personally interesting to me--it was really interesting to me to hear about things like the history and legacy of different Harvard administrators, as well as what Harvard culture was like in the 50s/60s. I expect that most people reading this wouldn't be as personally invested in this as I am, but I really enjoyed it.
This book may well have appealed to me more than it might generally appear to everyone. The portions of the book mainly focusing on Harvard history were really personally interesting to me--it was really interesting to me to hear about things like the history and legacy of different Harvard administrators, as well as what Harvard culture was like in the 50s/60s. I expect that most people reading this wouldn't be as personally invested in this as I am, but I really enjoyed it.
January 2, 2022
I was given this book as a gift, started it, got bored, and almost abandoned it. Unlike many, I'm not drawn to the fascination with Harvard's elitism. Its wealth, its selectivity, and its reputation make Harvard a force in the world - for good or for ill - but the elitism and idolatry surrounding it sometimes bore and disgust me.
I read on, though, and a found a few things interesting. The mixed reaction of community members to Malcolm X's visit in 1961 was fascinating and parallels the nation's reaction to Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam, and a few years later, the Black Power movement. The naivite of white people seeing to integrate their institutions or do good for Black communities is also instructive, as white dominant institutions and many white people continue to show the same lack of curiosity, humility, and commitment for deeper, more equitable justice in our communities and world.
I read on, though, and a found a few things interesting. The mixed reaction of community members to Malcolm X's visit in 1961 was fascinating and parallels the nation's reaction to Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam, and a few years later, the Black Power movement. The naivite of white people seeing to integrate their institutions or do good for Black communities is also instructive, as white dominant institutions and many white people continue to show the same lack of curiosity, humility, and commitment for deeper, more equitable justice in our communities and world.
March 22, 2024
2.5 stars
I really feel guilty. I wanted to love this book. Or at least enjoy reading it and learn something from it The writer took so much of his life and time to research, go on trips to see people, and put this book together and I just couldn’t get into it.
For me, it just never really lit a spark. I was waiting for most of the book for something that was exciting to happen to these men. And if I thought something was interesting it was just casually mentioned and moved on from.
The timeline is also extremely frustrating. It jumps all over the place and just when I think I know where it’s going it changes back to the opposite. I think the gallery of men was misplaced at the end as well, give this to me first. I read this on my kindle so I couldn’t really flip back and forth so I was constantly confusing one person for another.
I really feel guilty. I wanted to love this book. Or at least enjoy reading it and learn something from it The writer took so much of his life and time to research, go on trips to see people, and put this book together and I just couldn’t get into it.
For me, it just never really lit a spark. I was waiting for most of the book for something that was exciting to happen to these men. And if I thought something was interesting it was just casually mentioned and moved on from.
The timeline is also extremely frustrating. It jumps all over the place and just when I think I know where it’s going it changes back to the opposite. I think the gallery of men was misplaced at the end as well, give this to me first. I read this on my kindle so I couldn’t really flip back and forth so I was constantly confusing one person for another.
July 5, 2020
Interesting to hear about the experiences of black students in the class of 63. Especially the detail on why so few of them were involved with the civil rights movement, how they felt about white people who were, and the start of the Afro American student group (which later split into the two groups). However, the storytelling and journalism could’ve been more pointed and controlled - for example, Garrett shares a brief life story about each student he features but doesn’t delve into why each person made the choices they did, whether they were fulfilled, and what they would have done differently. The book sacrifices depth for breadth. Overall, an interesting read and highlights what has changed and how much sadly hasn’t at Harvard and in America. This is highlighted in the epilogue.
October 11, 2020
Enjoyed the story, the writing, the ideas and history explored in the U.S. 1958-68. Well worth reading. Read for our book group and our discussion questions are: Do you think the title is a good one? A lot of complex topics were described and advanced, what was your favorite one? Were you able to understand “what it means to be black”? what it means to be white if you are black?
What were you’re thoughts on integration and separatist, on Malcolm X and MLK?I don’t believe, any racist experiences were described that happened at Harvard to any of the 18 individuals as an individual, is that correct? Are you surprised? Did you find the “Harvard Experience” of education enviable? Highly recommend this book.
What were you’re thoughts on integration and separatist, on Malcolm X and MLK?I don’t believe, any racist experiences were described that happened at Harvard to any of the 18 individuals as an individual, is that correct? Are you surprised? Did you find the “Harvard Experience” of education enviable? Highly recommend this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 30, 2024
The author, a black member of the Harvard College class of 1963, wrote this late-in-life history of the experience that he, and 17 other black men faced. The differences were legion, the first of which is noted in the book's title -- these students were "Negroes" according to the language of the time, they were discouraged from interracial dating, they were only just waking up to racial consciousness in many ways.
The book succeeds as a history, though it's unfortunate that many of the students who receive mostly shallow profiles in this book could have given much richer interviews and shared more interesting anecdotes had there not been such a large gap between 1963 (when the students graduated) and 2020 (when this book was published). Much was lost to the sands of time.
The book succeeds as a history, though it's unfortunate that many of the students who receive mostly shallow profiles in this book could have given much richer interviews and shared more interesting anecdotes had there not been such a large gap between 1963 (when the students graduated) and 2020 (when this book was published). Much was lost to the sands of time.
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