1941 Harvard–Navy lacrosse game

The Harvard-Navy lacrosse game of 1941 was an intercollegiate lacrosse game played in Annapolis, Maryland, between the Harvard University Crimson and the United States Naval Academy Midshipmen on April 4, 1941. Before the game, the Naval Academy's superintendent told Harvard that the Navy team would not play against a racially integrated team. Harvard's one black player, Lucien Alexis Jr. of New Orleans, left of his own accord after Harvard's athletic director told Harvard's coach to send him home. Harvard's players, supported by their coach, had voted to forfeit the game rather than play without him. The game went on as scheduled. Both Harvard's and the Naval Academy's administrations were criticized for their actions.

On April 3, 1941, the Harvard lacrosse team's 18 players arrived at Annapolis, Maryland, to play the Naval Academy in a scheduled intercollegiate match. That day, the Naval Academy's superintendent, Rear Admiral Russell Wilson discovered that Harvard's team included one black player, Lucien Alexis Jr. He informed Harvard's coach, Dick Snibbe, and athletic director, William J. Bingham, that Navy's squad would not play against a racially integrated team.

Angry at the Naval Academy's stance, Snibbe and Alexis' teammates elected to forfeit the game and return to Harvard. Bingham intervened and ordered the Harvard coach to send Alexis home and play the game. Learning of Bingham's directive, Alexis voluntarily decided to depart and told his teammates that it was his idea. The game was played as scheduled the next day and Navy won 12-0.

Harvard's student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, learned of the incident and sharply criticized Bingham and Harvard's administration. The newspaper said of the incident:

Those officials here who asked the negro to return to college should explain the reasons for their actions by which Harvard has kow-towed to Jim-Crowism. Navy bigwigs should also be taught that when this country, this college and the navy itself declare their faith in democratic equality, they mean to practice what they preach."

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