Lesson 143:
Lucien Victor Alexis, Sr.
An ongoing illustrative history study
This piece originally posted 2/19/2024
Meet the "Negro Einstein," Lucien Victor Alexis, Sr. Born in 1887 New Orleans, Lucien originally worked as a railway mail clerk, saving up for his ultimate dream --to attend Harvard University; a phenomenally daunting challenge for a Black man at that time. At the age of 27 he finally accumulated sufficient funds and he was accepted, though the university asked him to first attend the Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire for one year. During that period Alexis discovered his talent (and love) for foreign languages and excelled in all of his classes, managing to graduate cum laude from Harvard a full year early (1917) so as not to exhaust the offset from his tuition savings.
During World War I Lucien was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant in the famed 366th Infantry (see also Lessons 60 and 117 in this series). After the war he returned to his hometown of New Orleans and married Rita Holt, with whom he had one son, Lucien Jr. (who would himself one day also attend Harvard and overcome a great many prejudices of his own). After working as a teacher at a number of elementary schools, he secured an appointment as principal of McDonough High School, where he would truly cement his reputation. Alexis brought some of his Army discipline to his principalship and also to his German and Latin classes, quietly enforcing strict dress and behavior codes. McDonough was situated in a poor neighborhood and was the only public high school available in New Orleans for Black people and endured a bad reputation... but under Alexis's leadership over the next 30 years, the school not only succeeded, it flourished (so much so that local ne'er-do-wells made a point of never picking on any of Alexis's students as they passed through dangerous neighborhoods on their way to and from school!).
Over the course of his tenure, Alexis published a number of additional research articles on ethonic theory, and also physics, chemistry, atomic theory, and even Relativity. After retirement, he and Rita founded and administered New Orleans's Straight Business School (no connection to Straight University). He also founded New Orleans's School of Post-Modern Science, and even served as president of the Supreme Industrial Life Insurance Company --then one of the largest Black insurance firms in the United States. Alexis died in 1981, sadly having outlived his own son, who himself died in 1975.
Next page - Lesson 144: M. Carl Holman
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