2011 - Sites at Lafayette - Lafayette College

What I experienced when I
arrived on the campus of
Lafayette College in Easton,
Pa., in 1955 can only be explained as
culture shock. I graduated from
Joel Spingarn High School in the
District of Columbia on the heels of
the Supreme Court decision that struck
down segregation in the public schools
of America. While Spingarn was a
segregated, all-black school, I was one
of only a handful of African Americans
sprinkled among 1,500 all-male students
at Lafayette. Faces, clothing styles, slang
expressions, and music were different.
Photos by Jeffrey MacMillan
At the start of my second semester, another black
freshman, Victor Partridge of Atlanta, and I were
approached separately by members of Lafayette’s
chapter of Phi Kappa Tau (Alpha Omicron), with offers
to join their ranks. . . .
At the time, Phi Kappa Tau had 71 chapters on college
campuses but no “negro” members. As I remember, we
were told a gentlemen’s agreement existed in the National
Constitution that restricted such membership, but our
chapter brothers had already begun efforts to have the
discriminatory language removed. Vic and I . . . accepted
the offers to pledge.
When we returned from summer vacation in September,
the issue was still unresolved. The Oct. 12, 1956 issue of
The Lafayette reported that “the chapter [Alpha Omicron]
was in disagreement with certain of the fraternity’s policies,
particularly membership policies.” [Two weeks later the
fraternity broke from the national and formed a local group
named Delta Sigma. Each brother voluntarily resigned from
the national.]
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Winter 2011 ◆ McDonogh report ◆ 7