The Golden Years
The largest influx came in 1997 as a result of the success of the 1996-1997 school year, Delbridge says.
With an increasingly diverse membership, some members of the group worried that the organization would lose its cultural identity.
"As the composition of Kuumba changed, it became more important to emphasize the history of where Kuumba came," Delbridge says. "To forget that is to forget Kuumba."
These tensions flared on the group's e-mail list about two years ago, when some in the group wondered whether the group's increasingly diverse membership threatened its mission.
"During my tenure as president... I saw a flurry of e-mails threaten to rend Kuumba's family along racial lines," wrote Phillip A. Goff '99 in the group's anniversary booklet, who served as president of the Kuumba Singers from 1997 to 1998.
"During that year, I saw many Harvardians cease to include Kuumba in their list of black organizations," he added. "Kuumba seemed on the brink of losing everything I thought made it so strong."
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