The early efforts of AASU had a direct influence on the HBS classroom. In response to AASU's core demands, HBS began to broaden the focus of its curriculum. Existing first–year required courses such as "Human Behavior in Organizations" and "Planning and the Business Environment" started to incorporate case studies on Black entrepreneurship and corporate expansion into urban environments. Changes occurred in the second–year elective curriculum with courses like "Business and Society in Black Africa," "Systems Analysis: The City," and "Black Power and the Business Community." Students could pursue self–directed research reports, initiate seminars of their own design, or cross–enroll in courses of related interest at Harvard or M.I.T. HBS also increased African American faculty representation. Ulric St. Clair Haynes Jr. served as a visiting professor from 1968 to 1972, and Stuart Taylor and Charles Johnson joined the faculty soon after.
Planning and the Business Environment
Left image: George C. Lodge, 1973. HBS Archives Photograph Collection: Faculty & Staff. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
Right image: “Planning and The Business Environment.” Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration Course Catalog. August 15, 1967. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
John H. McArthur. Research Project Concerning Students From Minority Groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, [1974]. Courtesy of Widener Library, Harvard University.
George C. Lodge taught the required first–year course "Planning and the Business Environment," which focused on external influences affecting business enterprises, particularly political, demographic, cultural, and technological shifts in society at large.
Organizational Development in the Inner City
Left image: Paul R. Lawrence, ca. 1960. HBS Archives Photograph Collection: Faculty & Staff. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
Right image: “Organizational Development in the Inner City.” Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration Course Catalog. April 15, 1969. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
In the fall semester of 1969, Paul R. Lawrence offered a second–year elective entitled "Organizational Development in the Inner City." AASU founding member Clifford E. Darden (MBA '69, DBA '82), the course assistant, helped to develop the case materials.
Black Power and the Business Community
Left image: Ulric St. Clair Haynes Jr., ca. 1968. HBS Archives Photograph Collection: Faculty & Staff. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
Right image: “Black Power and the Business Community.” Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration Course Catalog. July 15, 1970. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
Ulric St. Clair Haynes Jr. introduced the seminar "Black Power and the Business Community," presented from the point of view of Black entrepreneurs and managers. Haynes was president of Management Formation, Inc., a firm focused on increasing diversity in managerial positions.
Council for Opportunity in Graduate Management Education (COGME)
Left image: Bert H. King, ca. 1973. HBS Archives Photograph Collection: Faculty & Staff. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
Right image: Thomas Oliphant. “Graduate schools join forces to recruit non-white students.” Boston Globe, January 18, 1970.
Brochure, COGME: A Fellowship Program for Minorities in Graduate Management Education. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
Informed by the efforts of AASU, HBS invested in outreach throughout the country. In 1971, HBS jointly established the Council for Opportunity in Graduate Management Education (COGME) with nine other leading graduate business programs. Funded initially by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, these schools agreed on a mandate to increase student diversity. Management Formation, Inc., headed by Ulric St. Clair Haynes Jr., a former visiting lecturer at HBS, consulted on the endeavor. Its subsequent report was authored by AASU founding member E. Theodore Lewis Jr. (MBA '69). COGME funded the educational endeavors of nearly two thousand African Americans and other non-white MBA students for almost two decades. (1)
Bert H. King (MBA '70), who was the assistant director of HBS admissions from 1970 to 1971, served as president and executive director of COGME from 1971 to 1984. King increased corporate contributions to the program, which provided significant scholarship funding for minority students.
Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP)
The HBS Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP), established in 1983, continues today. SVMP began as a joint enterprise of HBS, the Executive Council of the Harvard Business School Association, the Harvard Business School Black Alumni Association , and corporate sponsors. During a one-week residency at HBS, college seniors from underrepresented groups in business education become acquainted with the challenges and opportunities presented by a career in business. Professor James L. Heskett spearheaded the SVMP initiative and served as its first faculty chairman. Dean John McArthur, Associate Dean Dean Currie, Associate Professor James I. Cash Jr., and Director of Admissions John Lynch also played a vital role in the creation and early success of the program. By 1990 around five hundred students had attended SVMP. (2)
Left image: James I. Cash Jr. teaching Summer Venture in Management program, ca. 1983. HBS Archives Photograph Collection: Subject Files & Events. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
Right image: Summer Venture in Management Program, ca. 1983. HBS Archives Photograph Collection: Subject Files & Events. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
SVMP enables college seniors to engage in the case method of instruction and attend presentations by HBS administrators and alumni. AASU students entering their second year have also volunteered for the program to help participants through the process of case analysis. Corporate sponsors selected students who worked as paid summer employees in their companies to attend the program.
Building on the Legacy
Reflecting upon the accomplishments of AASU, founding member A. Leroy Willis (MBA '69) said, "We had our own organization with our own identity which provided in essence, leadership training for us while we were here on campus . . . . The thing that I'm most proud of is the fact that each succeeding class has carried on this tradition." (3) Beginning in 1972, AASU has organized annual career/alumni conferences that have fueled an exchange of ideas among African American students, business executives, and HBS alumni. Participants over the years have spoken on topics of leadership, finance, and community. Today, the mission of AASU continues to uphold the core mandate inspired by its founders: "to foster an environment for AASU members to develop strong personal and professional relationships with the black community within and outside of HBS, engage the broader HBS community, excel academically, and make a positive impact on the community." (4)
“AMANDLA 1990: Power through the Freedom of Diversity,” Eighteenth Annual Career/Alumni Conference, Harvard Business School, March 1-4, 1990. African-American Student Union Records, c. 3. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
“At the Crossroads: Choices and Challenges for Black Economic Development,” Tenth Annual Career/Alumni Conference, Harvard Business School, February 25-27, 1982. African-American Student Union Records, b. 6. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
“The Black Community–A Neglected Opportunity,” Thirteenth Annual Black Career/Alumni Conference, Harvard Business School, February 14-16, 1985. African-American Student Union Records, c. 3. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
“At the Crossroads: Choices and Challenges for Black Economic Development,” Tenth Annual Career/Alumni Conference, Harvard Business School, February 25-27, 1982. African-American Student Union Records, b. 6. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
“The Black Community–A Neglected Opportunity,” Thirteenth Annual Black Career/Alumni Conference, Harvard Business School, February 14-16, 1985. African-American Student Union Records, c. 3. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
“AMANDLA 1990: Power through the Freedom of Diversity,” Eighteenth Annual Career/Alumni Conference, Harvard Business School, March 1-4, 1990. African-American Student Union Records, c. 3. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
“The Black Community–A Neglected Opportunity,” Thirteenth Annual Black Career/Alumni Conference, Harvard Business School, February 14-16, 1985. African-American Student Union Records, c. 3. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
“AMANDLA 1990: Power through the Freedom of Diversity,” Eighteenth Annual Career/Alumni Conference, Harvard Business School, March 1-4, 1990. African-American Student Union Records, c. 3. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
“At the Crossroads: Choices and Challenges for Black Economic Development,” Tenth Annual Career/Alumni Conference, Harvard Business School, February 25-27, 1982. African-American Student Union Records, b. 6. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
Panelists in the AASU conferences during the 1980s addressed challenges in mobility that African Americans faced in corporate America, the impact of business and public policy on minority-owned businesses, and African American women in business.
H. Naylor Fitzhugh and Lillian Lincoln Lambert at Black Career Day, ca. 1979. HBS Archives Photograph Collection: Subject Files & Events. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
Black Alumni Association President Walter L. Ross presents former HBS Dean George P. Baker with the Distinguished Service Award, 1979. HBS Archives Photograph Collection: Subject Files & Events. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
AASU conference speakers have included Lillian Lincoln Lambert (MBA '69), an AASU co–founder, and her mentor, H. Naylor Fitzhugh (MBA '33). Fitzhugh also helped establish the Black Alumni Association of HBS (now the Harvard Business School African–American Alumni Association), a networking organization for applicants to HBS, current students, and alumni.
In 1979, Walter L. Ross (MBA '73), president of the Black Alumni Association, presented former HBS Dean George P. Baker (pictured with his wife Ruth Baker) with the Distinguished Service Award. Baker was honored for his work in recruiting African American students and creating fellowship programs to increase diversity at HBS.
