Another Light on the Hill Black Students at Tufts

1920-1929

Herbert Barrow, Theodore Carter, Lucien Ayers, and Jester Hairston (The Shenley Quartet), 1929

The decade of the 1920s saw the emergence of the “new Negro on campus.” Whereas the total number of Black students on college campuses nationwide in the 1910s averaged less than 1,500 yearly, there was a marked increase in the 1920s as the sons and daughters of a small but emergent Black middle class began to enroll in institutions of higher education. Tufts was no exception, with at least one and sometimes two Black students enrolled in most entering classes. Beginning with Madeline Bernard J1920, the first Black woman identified as a graduate of Jackson College, those Black students participated rather actively in campus activities and on athletic teams.

However, the on-campus social life of Black students may have been restricted. To fill such a void, Black male students pledged several of the historically black fraternities--Omega Psi Phi, Alpha Phi Alpha, and Kappa Alpha Psi and Black female students pledged local chapters of two of the historically black sororities--Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta. In addition, African-American students at Tufts established friendships, often of long standing, with students from nearby colleges. Perhaps the most prominent on-campus activity involving Black students in the 1920s was the staging of Eugene O'Neill's play "The Emperor Jones" by members of Pen, Paint and Pretzels. According to the Tufts Weekly, that production marked "the first time that any play has ever been given on hill with the lead taken by a negro [sic]." Starring John Moseley A31 and Jester Hairston A29, the play was well received on campus and in local communities.

– Gill, "Another Light on the Hill" with further research by Cat Rosch AG22
Jackson College sophomore basketball team, 1924
Claude Randolph Taylor A27, 1924
John Moseley A31 in Scene IV from Emperor Jones, December 14, 1928