Kuumba began in the late 1960s when an increasing number of African-Americans entered Harvard but found the University devoid of resources able to deal with their identity, Wiley explained.

"In the late 1960s, Harvard University was a strange land, indeed, for African and African-American students," he wrote in an essay published in Kuumba's 30th anniversary commemorative booklet. "Not only did the curriculum offer little that dealt with the unique history and experience of black people, but the institution itself was culturally alien, and sometimes even hostile, to students of African descent."

By November 1970, students were agitating for greater resources tailored to African-American students. One consequence of the movement was the creation of the Afro-American Studies department that year. Another was the creation of Kuumba.

On Friday night, 30 years later, Wiley sat in the Quincy House lobby, remembering the night he and a group of friends gathered in Quincy 317 to organize a singing group.

The group grew to become the Kuumba Singers and would practice on the second floor of the old Freshman Union.

"We felt the need to validate the experience we brought to the University," says Kuumba singer R. Michelle Green '74.

And while Dennis J. Henderson '79, a former president of the Kuumba Singers, says that the University, especially former Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III, always accepted them, it was "always a struggle to get funding."

"We didn't have difficulty," Wiley says. "But neither did we have strong support."