EXCERPTS

… Fannie Slowe, her mother, had been gentle and easy with her because she was the baby of the family. She did anything she wanted to do, despite the protests of her brothers, John and Bill, and her sister, Charlotte. Her sister regarded herself as Lucy’s boss, and Lucy felt she had a perfect right to “scratch her, pull her hair” and hide behind her mother’s skirt. …

Lucy’s talent as a student leader was perhaps most far-reaching in her role in founding and serving as the first president of the first chapter of the first sorority for African-American women—Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA). …

… In one of her addresses, she told Howard students about her visit to Talladega College.  When, on November 20, 1927, she spoke about the visit, she told them that she had traveled to Talladega to be the guest of the Board of Trustees at the dedication of two new buildings – the science hall and the dining hall.  She described the institution as “an intellectual oasis in the State of Alabama.” …

… She did not just play tennis; she excelled at it. When she was an undergraduate at Howard, she joined the Women’s Tennis Club, only to see her interest blossom over the years. She even encouraged the girls at Shaw Junior High School to play. Her family used one word to describe her interest in tennis: “insatiable.” A fellow tennis player, who was a graduate of the Howard University School of Dentistry, laughingly told Marion Wright when he remembered Lucy: “She may have been Lucy Slowe, but on the tennis court she was Lucy Fast.” …

… However, when we consider that in the interest of Negro Americans as well as the interest of other Americans is involved every international problem facing our country today, those of us who hold college degrees should be deeply concerned with this phase of American life.  Probably the greatest problem before the world is that of war. …