Black Students Association: Johnson Cultivates Social Side of BSA

It's as much fun as MTV and twice as unpredictable: the Black Students Association's version of "Singled Out."

Nancy A. Redd '03 is looking around the Quincy House Junior Common Room at her fellow BSA members, some of whom are shocked at her first-round decision to eliminate all basketball-lovers. Her choice leaves one man standing: chess champion Shearwood "Woody" McClelland '00. The crowd laughs. Some hoot, "Woody!" The two hug, and the audience gives voice to a collective, "Awwww..."

The mood in the room is congenial, light and social--which is exactly how BSA president Alicia E. Johnson '01 wants it. In theming this year "Rebuilding Harvard's Black Community," she and her board are getting the BSA in touch with its social side.

At the end of Fraser's tenure, Johnson, the only student in recent history to lead the group as a junior, says she's "trying to get people to hang out together."

If the beginning of this year is any indication, Johnson and her board are successfully refocusing BSA's attention on social events, while maintaining BSA traditions.

Her predecessor, Dionne A. Fraser '99, took an energetic, whirlwind-style approach, leading the group to sponsor a large number of events, including collaborations with other University organizations such as the Kennedy School of Government's Institute of Politics. And people attended BSA events last year, Johnson says--but the faces of attendees were changing all the time.

"We did so many events last year," Johnson says. "We lost a little quality...People weren't invested."

Under Johnson's leadership, the group has rediscovered the value of House events, instituting several new activities aimed at recreating a sense of community. Monthly BSA House activities have included karaoke, Playstation games, card games and movie viewings.

"It seems like more people participate," Johnson says. "We're shooting for more quality."

General meetings draw large numbers. The October meeting included "Singled Out," as well as a spirited discussion about the state of black romance on campus. Aaliyah N. Williams '02, lecture series chair, organized "The Changing Roles of Blacks in Sports: A Business Perspective," featuring executives from the professional baseball, football and basketball worlds.

But not only have Johnson and her board helped foster community in their group--they have also resurrected long-dormant BSA traditions.

As the Office for the Arts raised concern this year about the state of the black arts community, one tradition that especially stands out is the Black Literary Anthology, last seen in the early 1990s. BSA members are currently involved in reorganizing the publication. Apollo Night, the BSA-sponsored talent show, overwhelmed Lowell Lecture Hall this year. The Black Arts Festival is scheduled to continue.

Additionally, three group historians are currently working on writing a comprehensive chronicle of the organization, and they are sifting through years of documents in its Holworthy Hall basement office.

In March, the group will have a big black-tie fundraiser, including alumni. The timing may coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Afro-American studies department, in which case, Johnson says, she hopes Faculty and students can coordinate celebratory events.

Juggling this year's vision with BSA history makes for a busy schedule. What drives her to spend so much time on this?

"If you're a black student here at Harvard you need an outlet that brings students together," she says. "For me, my identity is as a black woman. Every day, I wake up and think--I'm a black woman. That's very important to me."

Johnson is from Ocean City, N.J., where she went to a high school that she estimates is about 7 percent black.

Her home was half an hour away from Vineland, N.J., the Ku Klux Klan's largest center in the Northeast, she says. She served on a committee fighting hate crimes during her senior year, a time when her school was rife with racial tension.

"That definitely has something to do with why I am so compelled to identify, organize, socialize--to be president of the BSA," she says, pausing over a bite of shrimp scampi at dinner recently in Lowell Dining Hall.

Fraser was a tough act to follow, Johnson adds.

"She was very much respected. People would do what Dionne said," Johnson says, adding that she depends more on input.

Johnson's quiet command is different than Fraser's approach, but she has a firm hand on the group. At the general meeting featuring "Singled Out," she spoke briefly at the beginning and then explained that she had to leave, as she was scheduled to leave town. Perhaps the most telling thing about this year's BSA leadership is how smoothly the meeting ran in her absence.

And as the head of one of the campus' largest and most prominent ethnic organizations, Johnson is similar to mile-a-minute Fraser in at least one major way: she's always on the move.

"I don't think I ever stop," she says.

She's right. She breaks into the dinner conversation gently to say she has to go. Five minutes after the meal has concluded, Johnson has sent an e-mail message to the BSA list. Next stop: Apollo Night in Lowell Lecture Hall, where once again, the mood will range from light to thoughtful, and Harvard's black students will congregate to fulfill one of the BSA's main goals for this year: to enjoy each other's company and to have a good time.